Title

A Study of Rural Senegalese Attitudes and Perceptions of Their Behavior to Changes in the Climate

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2-2012

Keywords

Climate change, Land cover land use change, Rural livelihoods, Senegal, Scenarios

Description

Semi-structured focus group discussions were employed to capture rural Senegalese attitudes and perceptions of their behavior to changes in the climate and their land use and livelihood strategies. Seven focus groups stratified by gender, ethnicity (Wolof and Peulh) and dominant production system (cultivators and pastoralists) in five villages in semi-arid northern Senegal revealed seven main themes. Rural livelihoods remain predominantly based on rainfall dependent practices, and although cultivators and pastoralists had a clear appreciation of changes in natural resources compared to a perceived more favorable past, few adaptive coping strategies beyond established ones were advocated. The seven themes are discussed in detail and their implications for rural livelihoods under future long term climate predictions discussed with the implications of this study for the development of scenarios of future land cover land use.

Publication Title

Environmental Management

Volume

50

Issue

5

First Page

929

Last Page

941

DOI of Published Version

10.1007/s00267-012-9932-4

Publisher

Springer

Link to Full Text
COinS