Coping Strategies Families Can Adopt to Manage Challenges of Climate Change in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

"Climate change is one of the most critical environmental challenges confronting human existence in the 21st century. This study investigated the coping strategies that families can adopt to manage challenges of climate change in Ganye, Adamawa State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 384 inhabitants of the area was drawn across the households in Ganye for the study through a multi-stage sampling procedure. A questionnaire was developed by researchers for data collection. The findings of the study revealed that the mean ratings of the items identified as the challenges of climate change faced by respondents in the study area were above a criterion mean of 2.50, which depicts that the identified items were the challenges of climate change faced by the respondents. The values of the standard deviations ranged from 0.37-0.87, which implies that the responses of the respondents were close to each other and to the mean. The mean ratings for the several coping strategies families can adopt in managing the challenges of climate change were above a criterion mean of 2.50, which implies that the items identified were perceived as the coping strategies to manage the challenges of climate change. It was recommended that trees and cover crops should be planted in order to address the challenges posed by climate change in the study area."