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RESEARCH ARTICLE: Attitude and Risk Perceptions about Climate Change in Farming Communities in Southern Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Nigatu Regassa  and
Barbara J. Stoecker
Nigatu Regassa*
Affiliation:
Department of Rural Development and Family Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, SNNPR, Ethiopia
Barbara J. Stoecker
Affiliation:
Department of Nutritional Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma.
*
Address correspondence to: Nigatu Regassa, Department of Rural Development and Family Sciences, Hawassa University, Hawassa, SNNPR, Ethiopia; (phone) 251-046-2207562; (fax) 251-046-205421; (e-mail) negyon@yahoo.com.
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Abstract

Climate change knowledge and risk perceptions were examined in farming communities in Southern Ethiopia. Based on multistage probability sampling, data were collected from 2,188 respondents. Most respondents (80%) were concerned about risk of climate change. Variables that predicted knowledge and risk perception for both men and women were frequency of listening to the radio, household size, agroclimatic zone, and educational status. Additionally, age, household wealth, and social institution membership were predictive for women, and frequency of newspaper reading was predictive for men. The high levels of risk perception suggest receptiveness to context-appropriate strategies to reduce potential long-term vulnerability.

Environmental Practice 16: 29–36 (2014)

Type
Features
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 29 - 36
Copyright
© National Association of Environmental Professionals 2014 

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