Globally, climate change impacts the availability and quality of natural resources and the lives that depend on them. As people are differentially affected by climate stress, we wanted to test what factors influenced their ability to adapt in response. In particular, factors such as social capital, integration within broader social networks can provide opportunities and resources that buffer against negative impacts of climate change and enable livelihood adaptation. To better understand the role of social capital, we surveyed rural families in Swaziland in 2015 and 2016, during the most severe drought in recorded history. We surveyed households to determine how they adapted to the drought and how adaptation varied with their ability to adapt, based on access to physical, human, natural, social, and financial capital. We also collected data on willingness to adapt, driven by perceptions of risk, social norms, self-efficacy, and behavioral efficacy. Last, we assessed child nutrition, an indicator of household well-being, to determine how adaptation, capital, and willingness influenced well-being.
Results/Conclusions
Across the study site, households were severely impacted by the drought, having lost crops, cattle, jobs, and food security. We found that households with more social capital were more likely to attempt to adapt and adapt successfully to drought conditions. Successful adaptations included altering farming strategies, starting small businesses, and working off-farm. Successful households bolstered their social capital by participating in community organizations and working for and hiring neighbors. Social engagement increased opportunities for exchange of knowledge and resources and increased perceptions of self-efficacy and social norms to adapt. Additionally, households that adapted successfully and had more social capital, also had better child nutrition. Under future climate change scenarios, social capital may serve as a means of leveraging existing resources across communities to maintain livelihoods. We recommend greater investment in interventions that strengthen social capital to mitigate climate change impacts.