Cost of Climate change Hazards on Livelihood Capitals of Farmers in Coastal Communities of Delta State of Nigeria

Abstract

Climate change comes with hazards that impose cost on livelihood capitals that are very important to agriculture in particular and the economy in general. This study was aimed at eliciting evidence of Climate change and it’s associated hazards and estimating monetary cost of the hazards on livelihood capitals with a view to making recommendations that will minimise the cost on livelihood capitals of farmers in coastal communities of Delta State of Nigeria. The study area which is found within the Niger Delta region of Nigeria that is ecologically characterised by rivers, tributries, wet lands, mangrove swamps and a rich collection of aquatic and terrestrial floral and fauna, is also the concentration of petroleum exploration and production in Nigeria. Random sampling procedure was used to select 240 respondents from 8 communities that were purposely selected for the study.Cost was estimated by Willingness to Pay (WTP) and it's determinants analysed with regression model. Findings revealed that the people perceive climate change in terms of unusual changes in frequency and intensity of climate variables and the hazards associated with these changes are coastal erosion, flood, extreme heat and “wind and rain storm”. Climate change through the hazards was estimated to cost the average respondent 49,440 Nigerian naira or 123.60 US dollars (in livelihood capitals all of which are important to agriculture and the economy. Coastal erosion, flood, wind/rain storm and extreme heat were positively related to cost while literacy level, adaptation and number of income generating activities were negatively related to cost. Capacity building for improving existing adaptation strategies, literacy improvement, direct intervention projects and insurance were recommended as measures for minimising the cost of climate change on livelihood capitals of farmers in Coastal communities of Delta State of Nigeria.