Assessing socioeconomic vulnerability to climate change in three selected South African provinces

Climate variability and climate change pose a threat to the livelihoods of developing countries due to their adverse impacts on infrastructure and other production systems most notable in agriculture where such impacts lead to water and food insecurities. The magnitude of the impacts of climate variability and climate change are location specific and depend on the vulnerability and sensitivity of a locale to those effects. Focused on three provinces in South Africa namely the Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, the main objective of the study is to provide empirical results on the vulnerability of the selected provinces to climate change. The study is imperative because of a perceived paucity of private and public systems preparedness to deal with the present and future adverse impacts of climate variability and climate change. The study uses a composite vulnerability index and a fixed effect regression model in the analysis of data. Results showed that the selected provinces were vulnerable to climate change but to different extents. Further, it was observed that food grains production was significantly affected by climatic stressors. The study recommends the provision of efficient irrigation facilities, drought-tolerant crops, dissemination of information on integrated pest management and provision of non-agricultural jobs. Acknowledgement : This research is supported by funding from the Department for International Development (DfID), UK under the Climate Impact Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) Programme. The University of South Africa (UNISA) as well the University of Port Harcourt are acknowledged for providing support for the CIRCLE fellowship which was undertaken by the first author at UNISA.