October 2020 Vol.6 No.3

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Original Research Article

The Nexus between Socio-economic Factors and Coping with Effects of Climate Change Related Disasters on the Environment in Kisumu County

Roselyn Agumba Onyuro¹, Jackson John Kitetu², Paul M. Makenzi³, Dr. Eliud Gary Michura^4*

¹Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute roonyuro@gmail.com
²Kabarak University jkitetu@kabarak.ac.ke
³Egerton University pmakenzi@yahoo.com
⁴Kabarak University

*Corresponding Author's Email: EMichura@kabarak.ac.ke

Received: 17 August 2020  I  Accepted: 19 September 2020 I Published: 27 October 2020
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

Floods and drought affect households in lower Nyando river basin in a cyclical pattern almost every year. Each flood event is almost always followed by a drought event whose impacts include not only loss of lives, displacement of people and infrastructural damage, but also erode the soils’ and waters sources’ potential to sustainably supply goods and services to the households. This study explored the influence of social factors on coping with effects of Climate Change Related Disasters (CCRDs) namely Floods and Drought on the environment (soils and water sources). Data for the study was collected through a survey of 374 households, Key informant interviews and observations. The target population was 64,103 and sampling unit were the household Heads. Data on socio-economic factors and coping mechanisms of the households was collected. Data processing and analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics. T-test and Multiple regression tested at alpha p < 0.5% were used to correlate socio-economic factors with coping of households. Most households were found to engage in multiple coping activities at different levels of intensity. Coping mechanisms that constitute Conservation Agriculture scored lower means. Further, coping mechanisms on common (shared) natural assets also ranked lower than those on individual assets. Gender (sex) (t = -2.299, p = .022) and age 56 – 65 years (t = -3.910, p = .000) and 66 years (t = -2.473, p = .014) and above age groups significantly influenced coping of households. However the level of education and farm size had no significant influence on coping. Coping capacity of households was significantly different across wards (p = .027). The study recommends location specific interventions and enhanced extension services to the community to create awareness on the impact of CCRDs on the environment and disseminate information on sustainable coping options. Socio-economic factors need to be given due consideration when designing policy which would resilient-proof the natural assets and households.

Keywords: Resilience Climate Change Related Disasters (Floods and Drought), Coping, Impacts, Influence