| 1. |
- Armah, Frederick Ato, et al.
(författare)
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Analyzing the Relationship between Objective-Subjective Health Status and Public Perception of Climate Change as a Human Health Risk in Coastal Tanzania
- 2015
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Ingår i: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1080-7039 .- 1549-7860. ; 21:7, s. 1936-1959
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Climate change is considered as the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century. Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the most-at-risk region of the world, is estimated to have a disproportionately large share of the burden of climate change-induced environmental and human health risks. To develop effective adaptations to protect public health, it is essential to consider how individuals perceive and understand the risks, and how they might be willing to change their behaviors in response to them. Using a cross-sectional survey of 1253 individuals in coastal Tanzania we analyzed the relationship between subjective health status (self-reported health) and objective health status on the one hand and perceived health risks of climate change. Generally, higher subjective health status was associated with lower scores on perceived health risks of climate change. Concerning objective health status, the results were varied. Individuals who affirmed that they had been previously diagnosed with hepatitis, skin conditions, or tuberculosis had lower scores on perceived health risks of climate change, unlike their counterparts who affirmed that they had been previously diagnosed with malaria in the past 12 months or had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. These relationships persist even when biosocial and sociocultural attributes are taken into consideration. The results underscore the complex ways in which objective and subjective health interact with both biosocial and sociocultural factors to shape perceived health risks of climate change.
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| 2. |
- Armah, Frederick A., et al.
(författare)
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Management of natural resources in a conflicting environment in Ghana: unmasking a messy policy problem
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1360-0559 .- 0964-0568. ; 57:11, s. 1724-1745
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Resource use conflict is an enduring problem for science and policy making. Using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with resource users, policy makers and key informants, we explored four case examples of resource use conflict within lands and forestry, fisheries, oil and the mining sectors in Ghana. Results indicate that resource use conflict consists of a complex, non-linear system of balancing and reinforcing feedback loops that recur across resource sectors. The conflicts are difficult to clearly define, have many interdependencies and are multi-causal. Specifically, dysfunctional policy, commoditisation of land, infringement on rights of users, shift from communal to private land ownership, renegotiation of rights, and unclear roles and responsibilities of government agencies, exacerbate conflicts among resource users, managers and policy makers in Ghana. In addition, supranational policy such as the protocol of the Economic Community of West African States, which promotes free movement of people and goods within the 16-nation community, is a driver of conflict between native farmers and nomadic Fulani herders. Clear policy directions from government that outlines the specific roles of various departments involved in resource issues together with a holistic community participatory approach is therefore required to comprehensively understand and address such conflicts.
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| 3. |
- Armah, Frederick Ato, et al.
(författare)
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Monitored versus experience-based perceptions of environmental change: evidence from coastal Tanzania
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences. - 1943-8168. ; 12:2, s. 119-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The impacts of climate change are likely to exacerbate many problems that coastal areas already face. In this study, we used multinomial logistic regression to examine human perception of climate change based on a cross-sectional survey of 1253 individuals in coastal regions of Tanzania. This was complemented with time series analysis of 50-year meteorological data. The results indicate that self-rated ability to handle work pressure, self-rated ability to handle personal pressure and unexpected difficulties, age, region and educational status were significant predictors of perceived temperature change unlike ethnicity and gender. A disproportionately large percentage of respondents of all ages indicated that temperature was getting hotter between the past 10 and 30 years. This observation was supported by the time series analysis. Although respondents also alluded to changes in rainfall patterns in the past 10-30 years, time series analysis of rainfall revealed a different scenario except for Mtwara region of Tanzania. Because there is agreement between respondents' perceptions of temperature and available scientific climatic evidence over the 50-year period, this study argues that when meteorological records are incomplete or unavailable, local perceptions of climatic changes can be used to complement scientific climatic evidence. Based on the spatial differentials in climate change perception observed in this study, there is opportunity for a more locally oriented adaptation dimension to climate policy integration, which has hitherto been underserved by both academics and policymakers.
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| 4. |
- Ato Armah, Frederick, et al.
(författare)
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The unusual suspects? Perception of underlying causes of anthropogenic climate change in coastal communities in Cambodia and Tanzania
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0964-0568 .- 1360-0559. ; 60:12, s. 2150-2173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Public perception of the underlying causes of anthropogenic climate change is a complex and subjective issue that is critical to effective risk communication. This issue is important to scientists and policymakers because of the role of individual perceptions in influencing their protective behaviour towards risk (e.g., the adoption of climate risk reduction and mitigation strategies). This cross-sectional study elucidated people's perceptions of the underlying causes of human-induced climate change in coastal communities in Cambodia and Tanzania. The multinomial logistic regression model was based on a geographically and demographically stratified national sample of 3,706 individuals conducted between March and September 2013. The distribution of the fundamental causes of anthropogenic climate change in the pooled sample was deforestation (29%), overpopulation – births and immigration (18%), greenhouse gas emissions (12%), illegal resource extraction (14%), and God's will and transgressing cultural norms (26%). Few people in both countries believed that, the usual suspect, greenhouse gas emission was the fundamental cause of anthropogenic climate change. The number of poor rural residents who indicated that deforestation was the major underlying cause of climate change was approximately three times more than members of the same sub-group who noted that greenhouse gas emissions were the underlying cause of climate change. People who had tertiary education were less likely to consider God's will and transgressing cultural norms as the underlying cause of anthropogenic climate change rather than attributing it to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is imperative to mainstream climate change into educational curricula in both countries.
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