Local perceptions of climate change and its impacts on indigenous fruit trees

Rural people in Africa are reported to be particularly vulnerable to climatic variations due to widespread poverty, poor health and education, food insecurity, lack of technology and infrastructure and limited access to credit opportunities (Nangoma, 2007). Moreover, it is believed that their low adaptive capacity and high dependence on resources sensitive to climatic changes makes them even more vulnerable to climate change. Adaptive capacity refers to the potential or ability of a community to cope with, adapt to or recover from the effects of an exposure (Adger, 2003). Rural access to alternative livelihoods (such as indigenous fruit trees) and degradation of these livelihoods during climatic stresses touch upon the crosscutting themes in this book: environment, equity and livelihoods.