Climate Change Awareness, Impact and Adaptation in Portharcourt, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study evaluated socio-demographics, climate change awareness, impact/vulnerability and adaptation for adult residents of Port Harcourt. a purposive random sampling was employed selecting adult participants who had dwelt up to a year in Port Harcourt. 412 questionnaires were distributed. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, were generated. Additionally, regression analysis was employed investigating the relationships between independent variables and climate change awareness, adaptation and impact/vulnerability and ANOVA for evaluating the overall fit and significance of regression models. prevalent age groups were 28-37 and 38-47 at (31% and 28% respectively), gender distribution was male (51%) and female (49%), (65%) fall within the educational brackets. largest category of Households size ranged from 6 to 10 members (53.4 %); awareness levels was prevalent at 85% with 60% of awareness attributable to television. 87.9% attributed observable changes in their communities to climate change with most frequencies as shifts in the community rainfall patterns (72.6%) and temperature (63%), whilst a significant 74% did not take any action for adaptation only 35% depended on climate sensitive resources with 65% not believing they or their family members had health conditions impactable by climate change. A significant 74% took no adaptation measures and 57% were uncertain of any community adaptation measures available while 88% had no idea of any government or non- governmental programmes focused on adaptation. overall, a good number had concerns about the future impacts of climate change though many respondents did not feel their communities were prepared enough for future impacts. The study recommends the need for promoting awareness, encouraging responsible behaviours, and establishing resilient infrastructure as critical components of government non-governmental, community and individual response to climate-related challenges as collaborative efforts involving residents, authorities, and relevant organizations are key to fostering resilience and implementing sustainable strategies to tackle the consequences of climate change.