Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Droughts are a natural phenomenon that occur in hydrological cycles. However, the effect of climate change will increase the frequency and severity of drought. It is therefore, important that communities and the ecosystem learn to adapt to these abrupt changes. The rural households are negatively af...

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Autor principal: Made, Nolwandle
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2019
Materias:
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author Made, Nolwandle
author_browse Made, Nolwandle
author_facet Made, Nolwandle
author_sort Made, Nolwandle
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Droughts are a natural phenomenon that occur in hydrological cycles. However, the effect of climate change will increase the frequency and severity of drought. It is therefore, important that communities and the ecosystem learn to adapt to these abrupt changes. The rural households are negatively affected by the impacts of drought on their livelihoods. The rural households have limited or basic level of access to water and droughts further impact on their ability to access water. While droughts are natural, the impact may be worsened by human activity. In this thesis, the linkages between agricultural exports and water shortages are assessed. The impact of the water shortages on rural households and their coping strategies are also assessed. The research was undertaken in Umuziwabantu Local Municipality through semi-structured and informal interviews with rural people, commercial farmer and government officials. The analysis was done using the Adaptive Governance Framework and linking it to Sustainable Livelihood Framework. The research findings showed that rural households employ different strategies to cope with the drought and create resilience. It also showed that there is more research needed on the linkages between agricultural exports and water shortages. The governance institutions were also found to not being flexible enough to adapt to the shocks.
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
language Inglés
publishDate 2019
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spelling RepoSLU145792020-06-04T12:07:22Z Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa Made, Nolwandle Rural livelihoods rural households water shortages resilience coping strategies Droughts are a natural phenomenon that occur in hydrological cycles. However, the effect of climate change will increase the frequency and severity of drought. It is therefore, important that communities and the ecosystem learn to adapt to these abrupt changes. The rural households are negatively affected by the impacts of drought on their livelihoods. The rural households have limited or basic level of access to water and droughts further impact on their ability to access water. While droughts are natural, the impact may be worsened by human activity. In this thesis, the linkages between agricultural exports and water shortages are assessed. The impact of the water shortages on rural households and their coping strategies are also assessed. The research was undertaken in Umuziwabantu Local Municipality through semi-structured and informal interviews with rural people, commercial farmer and government officials. The analysis was done using the Adaptive Governance Framework and linking it to Sustainable Livelihood Framework. The research findings showed that rural households employ different strategies to cope with the drought and create resilience. It also showed that there is more research needed on the linkages between agricultural exports and water shortages. The governance institutions were also found to not being flexible enough to adapt to the shocks. SLU/Dept. of Urban and Rural Development 2019 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/14579/
spellingShingle Rural livelihoods
rural households
water shortages
resilience
coping strategies
Made, Nolwandle
Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_full Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_fullStr Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_short Evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of Umuziwabantu Local Municipality in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
title_sort evaluating the impact of drought on rural communities : a case study of umuziwabantu local municipality in kwazulu natal, south africa
topic Rural livelihoods
rural households
water shortages
resilience
coping strategies