When a household has limited access to clean water, sanitation, or even adequate food, climate mitigation does not appear to be an immediate concern.
Dr Nkechi Owoo's research asks whether multidimensional poverty plays a role in households' climate mitigation actions. Her results suggest that, in Ghana, non-monetary deprivations remain essential considerations for household mitigation activities. When a family has limited access to clean water, sanitation, or even adequate food, climate mitigation does not appear to be an immediate concern.
How did you go about your research?
There is a lot of literature establishing limited mitigation interest and capacity among low-income households. I wanted to explore the evidence for non-monetary endowments. To do this, I used data from three waves - 2009, 2014 and 2019 - of the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey. The benefit of using panel data is that potentially unobserved, unmeasured household variables that would otherwise likely bias regression results from using only cross-sectional data are controlled for in the analyses, leading to more robust results.
A second aspect of my research aims to shed some light on experiences and coping strategies adopted by different subgroups (men vs women, rural vs urban households, educated vs not educated, young vs old) in response to climate change in Ghana. I collected qualitative data on 32 individuals from Ghana's Ashanti and Northern regions. People from different age groups, educational backgrounds, residences, and genders were considered to capture heterogeneity in responses. Semi-structured interviews were then used to elicit information from the participants. Several engaging lessons emerged from the analyses of the collected data.
First, shock exposures are a crucial predictor of input demand, particularly in rural areas. Households that experienced recent shocks were more likely to adopt adaptive and mitigatory strategies. Nonetheless, some evidence of religious fatalism concerning climate change was observed. When farmers felt that disaster events were divine, they hesitated to adopt mitigatory strategies. From a gender perspective, it was found that climate change often contributed to heavier work burdens and reduced leisure time for women. For example, women who resided in northern parts of the country, where it was boiling and dry, had to wake up earlier than usual and begin the day's chores when temperatures were more relaxed and risks of bushfires from lit coal pots were lower.
Another necessary consequence of climate change was the mental health of affected individuals, and the channels through which it occurred were increased heat stress and forced migration due to lost agricultural livelihoods.
What do you hope to achieve with this research?
On an academic level, I hope to contribute to the existing literature on what we know about the challenges that households face in adapting to and coping with climate change. I hope to emphasise that the effects and consequences of climate change are not uniform, and therefore, programmatic interventions should be tailored to the specific needs of different subgroups.
On a more practical level, I hope to disseminate my work and share findings with policymakers so that it might, in some way, contribute to policy-making processes that will reduce the burdens of disaster events on households and mitigate future vulnerabilities.
Are things progressing to your satisfaction?
Yes, I am pleased with my progress. My two papers are currently being reviewed in good journals, and I am keeping my fingers crossed for a positive outcome. As is often the case with research work, engaging in these papers sparked ideas for two additional papers currently being developed.
What are your next steps?
I want to get the various manuscripts published in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals by the conclusion of the overall project date and share the findings in a validation workshop to be organised later this year. This is where I share the findings from the project with my stakeholders, comprising representatives from various local institutions (e.g., Ministries, NGOs, CSOs) that work in the climate change and poverty spaces. An inception workshop was successfully organised at the start of this project, where stakeholders had the opportunity to contribute ideas; they are undoubtedly anticipating results from this work.
I am also considering a newspaper article on these results, as I feel I will reach an even broader audience.
What role did your mentor and supervisor play?
They provided feedback on my manuscripts and reports and connected me with other researchers in similar research spaces. Their input has been valuable and much appreciated.
Can you share highlights?
A few noteworthy highlights have been from my participation in the FAR-LeaF program. An example is the numerous training opportunities to improve our research expertise and leadership. These have included sessions on research ethics, steps for successful publishing, grant-writing tips, and research supervision, to name a few. These elements of a research career are not necessarily taught in graduate school and are often learned over many years "on the job". Early training and interventions like these are, therefore, very much welcome.
The FAR-LeaF programme is committed to ensuring greater visibility for its fellows by disseminating individual achievements on social media outlets and funding fellows to present their work at high-profile conferences. I have benefited from these opportunities, particularly the travel support that recently allowed me to show my work at the UNU-WIDER conference.
What would your advice to young researchers be?
Different interests, activities, and opportunities will pull a young researcher in different directions, which is not necessarily bad. While taking advantage of the many opportunities and building as much capacity as possible, developing good time management skills is essential. Being organised and effective at work and intentional about self-care will be critical to staying on top of the demands of a professional career in academia.
Nkechi Owoo, in conversation with Heidi Sonnekus
