Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change
Open Access

Research Article

The Perception of Local Community about the Effects of Climate Change in Upper Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, Pakistan

² Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Swat, Pakistan

³ Department of Genetics, Hazara University, Mansehra, Pakistan

⁴ Institutes of Economics Social and Development Studies, University of Swat, Pakistan

*Corresponding Author:

Afsheen Maryam
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Peshawar, Pakistan
Tel: +92-91-921679
E-mail: afsheenmaryam@gmail.com

Received date: January 23, 2014; Accepted date: February 04, 2014, 2013; Published date: February 06, 2014

Citation: Maryam A, Khan S, Khan K, Khan MA, Rabbi F, et al. (2014) The Perception of Local Community about the Effects of Climate Change in Upper Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. J Earth Sci Clim Change 5:183. doi: 10.4172/2157-7617.1000183

Copyright: © 2014 Maryam A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Purpose: This study is an attempt to identify the impacts of climate change on the lives of local people of the study area based on 30 years back data i.e. 1982-2012.

Methodology/Approach: The study was carried out through semi-structured interview.

Findings: The results showed that climate change has visibly occurred in the area during the last 30 years. The results also revealed that climate change is a reasonable risk affecting the lives of the local people more towards negatively than positively, as perceived by the residents of Swat valley.

Practical implications: The study recommends that the anthropogenic sources causing global warming and triggering climate change, should be reduced and government should restrict and implement the law regarding Green House Gases (GHG) emissions.

Originality/Value: The study is an attempt to examine the people’s perception about risk of climate change and its possible effects on their lives in Swat Valley in 1982-2012.The work is different from pre-existing literature in Pakistan.

The authors investigated the perceptions of locals regarding the effects of climate change on their lives both qualitatively and quantitatively, which have not been studied previously. Moreover, this study included a set of recommendations for the control and reduction of causes of climate change which is a significant contribution to the existing literature and can guide the government agencies for policy making.

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