BASELINE STUDY ON CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS IN COASTAL COMMUNITIES
One of the greatest global challenges in the past two decades is climate change. Climate change represents the most recent in a series of environmental drivers defining human conflict in decades. The global coastal regions are expected to be most affected by the effects of climate change. Sierra Leone’s coastal communities are no exceptions. The nation’s coastal zones are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change including storm surges, frequent and heavy precipitation and related coastal erosion which severely affect ‘social wellbeing, livelihood security, water resources and major economic sectors such as fishing, tourism and agriculture’ (UNDP, 2019). According to the UNDP representative to Sierra Leone, Dr. Samuel Doe, more than 2 million persons living along the coastal zones of Sierra Leone are either at risk or are expected to be at risk from existing and projected climate related sea level rise (USAID, 2019). However, the population’s knowledge and understanding of these issues remain unknown. The adaptation skills of the coastal populations who are likely to suffer the most, continue to be either neglected or received far less attention than they actually deserves. Therefore, a study to advance our understanding of the population’s knowledge on climate change is both timely and essential.