Purpose: The paper aims to enhance the understanding of the impacts of climate change on rural communities in Africa, including people’s livelihoods, their adaptive capacity, coping practice and ability to engage in sustainable forest use and management of climate change adaptation.Design/methodology/approach: The paper opted for a desktop review approach, using the forest-based rural communities of South Africa as a case study.Findings: This review shows that climate variability and change are affecting rural people and their livelihoods negatively. Forest-based livelihoods are particularly vulnerable. Nevertheless, the people have developed coping mechanisms to cushion the effects of climate variability and change. However, the effectiveness and efficiency of these strategies are greatly constrained by factors that are related mostly to their socioeconomic characteristics (for example, skill level, educational status and health) and the functionalities of infrastructures and services in their communities.Research limitations/implications: Given that the study focused on forest-based rural communities and livelihoods, the results may be limited in generalizability. This may have particular implications for other categories of rural communities and livelihoods in Africa and developing countries in other continents.Practical implications: The study showed that opportunities for planning and implementing effective climate change adaptation at rural community level in South Africa are reliant on effective strategies to overcome the constraints identified by the study. The authors thus recommend that climate change adaptation initiatives in rural communities of Africa should focus on improving people’s socioeconomic conditions and the overall sustainable development of the community.Originality/value: This paper fulfils an identified need to study how climate change affects rural forest-based communities and livelihoods.

Rooftop solar photovoltaics have the potential to successfully electrify rural and scattered communities worldwide. However, access to clean, high-quality, reliable and affordable energy remains elusive for several households in rural areas of the developing world. To fully comprehend, unpack and proffer meaningful solutions to this mismatch, energy sources in use and types in areas where rural electrification through solar home systems are profiled. Furthermore, grassroot communities’ perceptions of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PVs) was explored. A case study design was adopted. Thirty (30) households were purposively sampled from three selected villages. Their perceptions on the adoption of solar photovoltaic home systems were analysed qualitatively using Atlas ti 8 software. Thematic network analysis was pursued. Households in the chosen villages use grid connections, paraffin, solar PV, firewood and candles to meet their energy needs. The chosen villages used energy for water heating, refrigeration, cooking, illumination, space heating, entertainment and ironing at the household level. In general, the participating households perceived solar PVs as a relatively cheap, easy-to-use, environmentally friendly alternative energy, and did not demand regular payments once installed. However, there was a discerning perception that solar was a weak technology that could not be relied on because it produces an inferior quality of energy, could be easily stolen and needed high capital investment beyond the reach of many consumers. The results obtained in this study highlight that the solar home system (SHS) rollout should be sensitive to rural communities’ financial situations and be innovative in that low-income households are included. In addition, there is a need for a robust awareness programme that highlights the energy availability, reliability, quality, cost effectiveness and legal, health and safety benefits of the SHS to the rural families in the district.

Community-based forest management is a key climate change adaptation initiative in South Africa. It is aimed at enhancing the sustainability of rural household livelihoods and livelihood resilience against climate variability and change. However, lack of capacity at local household level could negate the intended benefits of community-based participatory forest management initiatives. This paper examines the local-level forest use and management capacity of rural households in Vhembe district of South Africa with respect to their adaptation strategy to climate change using the concept of livelihood resilience. A stratified proportionate random sampling technique was used to select 366 households from the study area, which were then sampled through a household questionnaire survey. The results showed that households’ capacity to participate in, and community leadership ability to mobilize people for participatory forest management was low. Nevertheless, the results revealed a widespread aspiration in the study communities to take part in forest management and development initiatives. This calls for the need for significant technical support for households and community leaders towards promoting participatory forest management as a way of ensuring efficiency and effectiveness of forest-based adaptation interventions.

Researchers involved in biomedical community-based projects rarely seek the perspectives of community fieldworkers, who are the ‘foot soldiers’ in such projects. Understanding the effect of biomedical research on community-based field workers could identify benefits and shortfalls that may be crucial to the success of community-based studies. The present study explored the perceptions of community-based field workers on the effect of the Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project" (MAL-ED) South Africa on their tangible and intangible capital which together comprise sustainable livelihoods. The study was conducted in Dzimauli community in Limpopo Province of South Africa between January-February 2016. The sustainable livelihoods framework was used to query community-based field workers’ perspectives of both tangible assets such as income and physical assets and intangible assets such as social capital, confidence, and skills. Data were collected through twenty one individual in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion. Data were analysed using the Thematic Content Analysis approach supported by ATLAS.ti, version 7.5.10 software. All the field workers indicated that they benefitted from the MAL-ED South Africa project. The benefits included intangible assets such as acquisition of knowledge and skills, stronger social capital and personal development. Additionally, all indicated that MAL-ED South Africa provided them with the tangible assets of increased income and physical assets. Observations obtained from the focus group discussion and the community-based leaders concurred with the findings from the in-depth interviews. Additionally, some field workers expressed the desire for training in public relations, communication, problem solving and confidence building. The MAL-ED South Africa, biomedical research project, had positive effects on tangible and intangible assets that compose the sustainable livelihoods of community-based fieldworkers. However, the field workers expressed the need to acquire social skills to enable them carry out their duties more efficiently.

This study was conducted at two different restaurants of Raymond Mhlaba Municipality (Alice), Eastern Cape, South Africa, to determine consumers’ social representations of meat safety. A total number of 251 people were interviewed in focus group discussions, each comprising 4–6 interviewees were conducted. Each focus group consisted of university students and staff, and members of rural communities surrounding the town of Alice. A semi-structured questionnaire comprising both closed-ended and open-ended questions was used to collect data. Consumers were concerned about the hygiene at the place of purchase and the freshness of meat. Moreover, they revealed that they were always worried about the risk of food-borne diseases. Although food-borne diseases were not cited as a significant problem, related ideas such as “washing of hands before preparation of food to minimize food-borne diseases” were important to consumers. Consumers indicated that meat safety at the abattoirs should be thoroughly managed given that “hygiene during meat processing is important to prevent the occurrence of food-borne diseases”. Consumers in both retail outlets have shown to have a limited understanding of meat safety. Thus, consumers’ social representations, perceptions, and knowledge are complex and dynamic with respect to meat safety.