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Where has all the Water Gone?: Understanding climate change from a community perspective Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

29 pages

This report is a written account of research undertaken in northern KwaZulu-Natal that looks into the issue of climate change from the perspective of poor rural women and men. It documents their understandings of climate change, their experience of its impacts, as well as their efforts to live, learn and adapt to the changes. The research, which took place over a number of months in 2006, shows that communities believe climate change is occurring in the UMKhanyakude District andthey feel particularly vulnerable to its impacts. It must be stressed that theobservations and comments given by participants are based on observed changesover time, rather than just climate variability. The methodology used for this research during the data collection component included a number of PLA techniques (timelines, community maps, problem trees) as well as focus group interviews. The report contains notes on PLA responses in Annexes.

KeywordsClimate change adaptation South Africa