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Fishers’ Perceptions and Attitudes toward Weather and Climate Information Services for Climate Change Adaptation in Senegal

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11768/
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229465
doi:10.3390/su12229465
 
Title Fishers’ Perceptions and Attitudes toward Weather and Climate Information Services for Climate Change Adaptation in Senegal
 
Creator Diouf, N S
Ouedraogo, I
Zougmoré, R B
Niang, M
 
Subject Climate Change
 
Description Climate variability has become a major issue for vital sectors in the context of climate
change. In fisheries, in particular, the effects of climate change are reflected in the decline of fishing
yield and loss of lives during extreme weather events in the sea. This study analyzed the perception of
climate variability and change by fisher-folks, the attitude of fisher-folks toward the weather forecast
and the adoption rate of the use of the weather forecast as well as the factors determining its use in
Senegal. To this end, 576 fisher-folks belonging to 41 local fishing committees along the coastal areas
were surveyed and focus group discussions were organized with key informants. The adoption rate
was identified using the method of the average treatment effect (ATE) and the test of independency
(chi-square) was used to analyze the perceptions of and beliefs on climate change. The results
showed that 96% of fisher-folks perceive the change in the climate, though the effects are differently
appreciated across the coastline. The most frequently observed effects are: coastal erosion, change in
wind direction, increase in extreme swells and sea level rise. Nearly half of fisher-folks confirm
that they noticed these changes over the past five years. In the Southern Coast in particular, 40% of
fisher-folks stated that these changes happened 10 years ago. This statement is confirmed by the
qualitative data. More than 90% of the respondents ascertain the weather forecast before going to
fish, 63% regularly receive the weather forecast and 53% avoid going to sea during extreme events.
In addition, the results showed that if the weather forecast was made accessible to the majority of
fisher-folks, more than 83% would avoid going to sea during periods of extreme weather extreme
events, thus reducing significantly the number of fatalities. The best way to protect the fisher-folks
from the harmful effects of climate change is to ensure large-scale access to and use of accurate
weather forecasts.
 
Publisher MDPI
 
Date 2020-11
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11768/1/sustainability-12-09465.pdf
Diouf, N S and Ouedraogo, I and Zougmoré, R B and Niang, M (2020) Fishers’ Perceptions and Attitudes toward Weather and Climate Information Services for Climate Change Adaptation in Senegal. Sustainability, 12 (22). pp. 1-16. ISSN 2071-1050