How to live and cope with climate change : coping strategies of small-scale farmers in Upper East Region, Ghana

Abstract: In Ghana, the Upper East Region (UER) is considered as one of the poorest regions of the country. It consists of a poor subsistence agricultural region, where the population suffers from low levels of education and poor development of infrastructure and other forms of state investments. The threat of climate change, such as enhanced average temperatures and weather variability risk making the people more vulnerable than before, especially, the small-scale farmers, whose livelihoods are directly dependent on the climate conditions. This research study explores how climate change affects livelihoods, with extensive discussions on the social situation of rural small-scale farmers, including gender relations, and tried to demonstrate how they have coped with some of these challenges. The role the state (Ghana) is specifically emphasized.