Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities
Scholarly understanding of an individual’s climate change risk perception in the African context, is limited, including amongst those who have an influence on policy making. This discussion paper goes some way towards filling this gap in understanding by providing preliminary findings on concern and...
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Elsevier
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Climate Risk Management |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221209631930213X |
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doaj-2b209a1c0c1f4cc8b3a0349875be59cf2020-11-25T01:45:14ZengElsevierClimate Risk Management2212-09632020-01-0127Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African citiesAnna Steynor0Maximillian Leighton1Jessica Kavonic2Waarith Abrahams3Lapologang Magole4Suzgo Kaunda5Chipo Plaxedes Mubaya6Climate System Analysis Group, Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, P. Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701 Cape Town, South Africa; Corresponding author.Department of Meteorology, Walker Institute, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AR, United KingdomICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, PO Box 5319, Tygervalley, 7536 Cape Town, South AfricaClimate System Analysis Group, Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, P. Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701 Cape Town, South AfricaDepartment of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Engineering, University of Botswana, P. Bag 0061, Gaborone, BotswanaFaculty of Engineering, University of Malawi-The Polytechnic, P. Bag 303, Blantyre 3, MalawiInternational Collaborations Office, Chinhoyi University of Technology, P. Bag 7724, Chinhoyi, ZimbabweScholarly understanding of an individual’s climate change risk perception in the African context, is limited, including amongst those who have an influence on policy making. This discussion paper goes some way towards filling this gap in understanding by providing preliminary findings on concern and the psychological distance of climate change amongst policy influencers in three southern African cities (Blantyre, Harare and Gaborone). We posit that climate change is psychologically close amongst those consulted in each city and this is correlated with increased levels of concern. As psychological distance of climate change has been shown to be an indicator of willingness to act on climate change, we posit that willingness to act on climate change may be enhanced in these southern African cities and, indeed, in many African cities facing similar risks from climate change. This information should be used to nuance the way in which we engage in tackling the climate change challenge in urban Africa, recognising the potential receptiveness to act on climate change and the contextual need for concrete, solutions-based climate information. Keywords: Africa, Climate change, Perceptions, Psychological distance, Concernhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221209631930213X |
| collection |
DOAJ |
| language |
English |
| format |
Article |
| sources |
DOAJ |
| author |
Anna Steynor Maximillian Leighton Jessica Kavonic Waarith Abrahams Lapologang Magole Suzgo Kaunda Chipo Plaxedes Mubaya |
| spellingShingle |
Anna Steynor Maximillian Leighton Jessica Kavonic Waarith Abrahams Lapologang Magole Suzgo Kaunda Chipo Plaxedes Mubaya Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities Climate Risk Management |
| author_facet |
Anna Steynor Maximillian Leighton Jessica Kavonic Waarith Abrahams Lapologang Magole Suzgo Kaunda Chipo Plaxedes Mubaya |
| author_sort |
Anna Steynor |
| title |
Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities |
| title_short |
Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities |
| title_full |
Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities |
| title_fullStr |
Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Learning from climate change perceptions in southern African cities |
| title_sort |
learning from climate change perceptions in southern african cities |
| publisher |
Elsevier |
| series |
Climate Risk Management |
| issn |
2212-0963 |
| publishDate |
2020-01-01 |
| description |
Scholarly understanding of an individual’s climate change risk perception in the African context, is limited, including amongst those who have an influence on policy making. This discussion paper goes some way towards filling this gap in understanding by providing preliminary findings on concern and the psychological distance of climate change amongst policy influencers in three southern African cities (Blantyre, Harare and Gaborone). We posit that climate change is psychologically close amongst those consulted in each city and this is correlated with increased levels of concern. As psychological distance of climate change has been shown to be an indicator of willingness to act on climate change, we posit that willingness to act on climate change may be enhanced in these southern African cities and, indeed, in many African cities facing similar risks from climate change. This information should be used to nuance the way in which we engage in tackling the climate change challenge in urban Africa, recognising the potential receptiveness to act on climate change and the contextual need for concrete, solutions-based climate information. Keywords: Africa, Climate change, Perceptions, Psychological distance, Concern |
| url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221209631930213X |
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