This book is an edited volume which contains empirical studies on determinants of poverty and its reduction in Africa. It looks at multidimensional measures of poverty, production and productivity-related factors, policies influencing poverty and random, hazardous but preventive factors influencing poverty levels and their reduction. The book argues that we need to account for different dimensions of poverty, when it is measured and classified, and for identifying the determinants of poverty and factors reducing poverty. The studies in the volume provide readers with a comprehensive picture of the state of poverty, its measurement, causal factors and efficient policies and practices in poverty reduction on the African continent as a whole and also in selected countries.

This study deals with three interrelated problems. First, it pursues the quest for local knowledge to understand climate variability and change at local levels. Due to controversies, uncertainties, skepticism and embedded economic and political interests in the climate change discourse, effective world collective action is more likely to delay for quite some time to come. Moreover, as climate change discourse remains very weak at engaging local knowledge, policies that emanate from the discourse might be less responsive to local climate problems both in terms of policy ingredients and time frame. So, having highlighting the paramount importance of local knowledge, this study documents and critically analyzes this knowledge system among subsistence farmers in Ethiopia. Secondly, it analyzes the economic impacts of climate variability and change and adaptation through quantitative methods with a special focus on crop production. Finally, it analyzes the factors that influence adaptive behavior. In so doing, it challenges the traditional approach of adaptation research and brings in a conceptual framework borrowed from psychosocial theory and empirically tests the approach in explaining adaptive behavior of farmers.

ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHNAGE: Agricultural Ecosystems and Gender Dimensions is a product of over four years of painstaking and rigorous research by a multidisciplinary team. It brings together empirical knowledge on farmers adaptation to climate change in a developing country. The book is comprehensive as well as broad in its coverage. Detailed analysis of various dimensions of climate change on dryland and wetland agriculture as well as fishing sector is presented from developing countrys perspectives. The book is made of thirteen chapters. The first chapter provide the setting of the climate change research environment wherein the rational, objectives and scope of climate change investigation are discussed. Chapter two provides an update of climate change adaptation research while the third chapter discusses the framework for analyzing climate change. The authors used their rich backgrounds in social science, gender and agricultural economics, and extension research to present their experiences in collecting and analyzing climate change data in real life situation in chapter four. The empirical evidence of trends in climate change, climate change information sources to farmers and fisherfolks, their knowledge level and vulnerability to climate change impacts are discussed in chapters five, six, seven, eight and nine. Chapter ten of the book looks at the impact of climate variability and long term change while adaptation to climate change is discussed in the eleventh chapter. The final chapter contains actions for climate change adaptation in developing countrys setting. The actions for climate change adaption are not only useful for policy but are as well actionable. The book is, therefore, a must for all genuinely interested in addressing the growing problem of climate change impacts in the most vulnerable section of the world- the developing countries.

This volume discusses important issues associated with agricultural disaster risk, resilient agriculture, and livelihood. It highlights the role of sustainable development goals in reducing the impact of climate change on agriculture. The contributions found in this volume discuss methodological and innovative resilience approaches to various natural hazards including flood, landslide, environmental challenges, strategies of disaster risk management, livelihood, ecosystem services, and agricultural sustainability. It explores the relationship between climatic change and agricultural transformation. While throwing light on the role of ecosystem services in disaster risk reduction, the book explores the impact of land degradation and change on growth of agricultural production and food production. The book will be useful for students and researchers of geography, environmental sciences, disaster management, and environmental geology. It will also be useful for geographers, environmentalists, hydrologists, geomorphologists, planners, and professionals working on related ideas.