13. Adaptation of the Artisanal Fisher Folks to Climate Change in the Coastal Region of Ondo State, Nigeria

Climate change is a global problem and has become an important agenda in both public and private discourse in recent times. Adaptation is more relevant for poorer nations because of their relative vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, [IPCC (Contribution of working group II to the 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC. University Press Cambridge, 2007a); Climate change: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Working group II contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Summary for policy makers. IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland, 2007b]. However, this paper examined adaptation of the artisanal fisher folks to climate change in the coastal region of Ondo state, Nigeria. Data for climate variables (sea surface temperature and rainfall) were obtained from reanalyzed Satellite data and were further analyzed using sophisticated ecological models for further inferences. 5-Scale Likert scale was used to assess the current adaptation strategies adopted by artisanal fisher folks. The result revealed that rainfall pattern showed great variation over time in terms of volume and intensity; this observation is in line with the observation of FAO, 2008, that, climate change is modifying the distribution of marine and freshwater species. The trend of temperature pattern for about 30 years clearly showed high fluctuation overtime. It was observed that the fisher folks in the study area had various adaptation strategies adopted for maximum fish production/catch for livelihood and improve standard of living.