The socio-cultural implications of climate change in Cameroon

Abstract

Climate change impact has remained a serious threat to man and more particularly in the water-stressed environment of north Cameroon where in most cases, man struggles for bare survival by eking out a living from a harsh or hostile climatic environment. In this region, the socio-cultural impacts can be devastating as has been shown by the El Nino events of the 1970s and the mid-1980s when the Sahelian droughts struck with implacable ferocity thereby exposing the constant vulnerability of man in the Sahelian marginal precipitation zones to the whims and caprices of climate variability. The socio-cultural impact of climate change could be perceived through the windowsof mass migration and the emergence of environmental refugees, rural unemployment of the agrarian populations, underdevelopment and the reinforcement of rural poverty, and threats to regional food security. While the cultural aspects that conserve the environment serve as an insurance against climate change impact should be encouraged, the good life culture continues to degrade and expose our environment to the caprices of climate change in much the same way as the cultural resignation to the concept that climate change is an act of the gods to be endured.

Keywords: Socio-cultural, impacts, climate, change, Cameroon

JOURNAL OF THE CAMEROON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Vol. 11 No. 1 (2013)