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Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2023

Intra-household risk perceptions and climate change adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa

Ginbo, Tsegaye; Hansson, Helena

Abstract

We examine the effects of spouses' climate risk perceptions (CRPs), defined by their beliefs about unfavourable climatic events and associated damages, on climate change adaptation (CCA) and the observed gender gap in adaptation. Our analysis uses the intra-household data collected by independent interviews with 1,274 female and male spouses in Kenya, Uganda and Senegal. By addressing the CRP endogeneity issue using the exogenous weather shocks during data collection months as instruments, we find that a higher CRP of both female and male spouses increases their probability of adopting CCA strategies. We also find that a higher CRP of female spouses reduces the adaptation gap by increasing their relative adoption of soil and water conservation practices. Our results highlight the importance of understanding gender-differentiated behavioural and economic factors to design effective climate policy interventions.

Keywords

risk perceptions; climate change adaptation; gender gap; climate-smart agriculture

Published in

European Review of Agricultural Economics
2023, Volume: 50, number: 3, pages: 1039–1063
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS

      SLU Authors

    • Sustainable Development Goals

      SDG13 Climate action
      SDG5 Gender equality

      UKÄ Subject classification

      Economics
      Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

      Publication identifier

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/erae/jbad011

      Permanent link to this page (URI)

      https://res.slu.se/id/publ/122270