Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Social protection as a coping strategy to impacts of climate change in the rural communities of South Africa

Global Food Security and Sustainability Conference

September 05-07, 2016 Beijing, China

K Nhundu and L Zhou

University of Fort Hare, South Africa

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Climate change is one of the biggest environmental challenges. It has become a major concern to society because of its negative impacts. South Africa has been highlighted to be vulnerable to climate due to its low adaptive capacity and its sensitivity to climatic changes and is likely to have major impacts on livelihoods. The most affected people are the rural poor because they are highly dependent on climatic and environmental factors in addition to their greater reliance on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture. Some of the biggest challenges of climate change are increased poverty, food and nutrition insecurity amongst the most vulnerable rural communities, thus posing critical challenges for natural development. However, little attention has been given to designing social protection as an adaptation strategy that could increase community resilience and ultimate graduation out of poverty. Social protection offers a wide range of instruments that can be used as an adaptation strategy for households, especially the vulnerable ones. Social protection does not only tackle income poverty, but it also provides effective support to broader developmental objectives, thus protecting the vulnerable against risks to their livelihoods. Although there is not much evidence on how these measures can help those affected to cope with climate change, this paper aims to provide information on the potential of social protection in reducing the impact of climate change on the poorest communities so as to increase climate change resilience on food and nutrition insecurity.

Biography :

K Nhundu has completed his PhD from the University of Fort Hare and currently registered for his Post-doctoral studies at the same University, in the Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre. He has published more than 5 papers in reputed journals and 2 book chapters and has been serving as a reviewer for a number of journals.

Email: knhundu@ufh.ac.za