Livelihoods and climate change in Hamburg: issues for food security

Abstract

Climate change continues to present a major challenge to food security around the world. The potential impact of climate change of rural livelihoods is especially significant as rural communities often rely heavily on natural resources to sustain their livelihoods and, hence, food security. This is applicable to the rural town of Hamburg, on the Eastern Cape coast of South Africa. The Sustainable Rural Livelihoods framework analyses livelihoods in terms of the context, available capitals and institutional framework that determines the livelihood strategies and outcomes for rural households. In terms of livelihood outcomes for Hamburg, it was found that the households have a heavy reliance on state grants in their livelihood portfolios. Natural resources, in the form of agriculture and harvesting of marine organisms, played only a supplementary role in livelihood strategies. Thus, given that climate change would impact negatively on the estuarine resources and the impact on agriculture is unknown as the climate becomes wetter and hotter, the impact on livelihoods and food security would not be significant. However, the sustainability of current livelihood strategies is questionable as grants, by their very nature, or unsustainable and therefore can result in vulnerability and food insecurity in the long-run for households. It is recommended that grants should be issued within the community, instead of in the distant town of Peddie, to help develop the local economy and reduce leakages. This would allow for diversification of livelihood strategies in Hamburg. In addition, government support through extension officers should be extended to Hamburg to assist in developing the local agriculture sector