The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) now considers climate change an emergency in East Africa, given the significant impact it has already had on the region. However, efforts to adapt to these changes have been slow, with most attention still focused on reducing emissions. The consequences of climate change have been particularly severe in Kenya and Ethiopia, while Uganda has recently made a greater effort to adapt.

Unfortunately, private sector investment in climate change adaptation has been insufficient. According to the Climate Policy Initiative, private investment in Ethiopia only covered 0.56% of the country’s climate finance needs in 2018, and in Kenya, only 4% of the needs were covered. The lack of private investment in Uganda has also been concerning. This is partly due to investors’ perception of the region as high risk.

To paint the real picture and offer insights into the role investors and innovators can play in accelerating private sector investment for physical climate adaptation solutions, GeoPoll collaborated with the African Venture Philanthropy Alliance (AVPA), the Lemelson Foundation, and Weber Shandwick to carry out a multi-stage study in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda.

The study involved an extensive literature review, a representative survey of 5,000 respondents, and in-depth conversations with experts to provide rich insights into the climate adaptation investment ecosystem in East Africa.

About the report

The result of this study is a detailed report outlining the barriers and opportunities for investment in climate adaptation technologies in East Africa, as well as pathways for impact investors to fund innovative adaptation technologies in the sectors most impacted by the climate crisis: agriculture, health, and infrastructure.

It is a guide for decision-makers, offering practical recommendations to governments, investors, entrepreneurs, businesses, and organizations seeking to adopt radical climate protection technologies in East Africa. It provides an in-depth understanding of the challenges of the climate investment ecosystem and serves as a roadmap to seize opportunities and promote innovation in climate adaptation technologies and financial models.

Download the Report – Free

The Priming Private Sector Investment in Climate Adaptation Innovations in East Africa Report is an essential resource for anyone committed to solutions that safeguard the region from the consequences of climate change.

Fill in this form to get the report via email, for free.

Contact GeoPoll

Please contact us if you have any questions on this report and its methodology, or if you would like to learn more about GeoPoll’s research capabilities around the world.

The post REPORT: Private Sector Investment in Climate Adaptation Innovations in East Africa appeared first on GeoPoll.

1. Monitoring changes in weather patterns: Mobile surveys can collect data on weather patterns, such as temperature, precipitation, and wind speed, from respondents across different locations. This data can identify trends and changes in weather patterns over time.
2. Assessing the impact of climate change on ecosystems: Mobile surveys can be used to gather data on the health and condition of ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and coral reefs. This data can be used to assess the impact of climate change on these ecosystems and identify areas that require conservation efforts.
3. Tracking the adoption of climate-friendly behaviors: Mobile surveys can be used to track the adoption of climate-friendly behaviors, such as reducing energy consumption, using public transportation, and recycling. This data can be used to identify areas where more education and outreach are needed to encourage sustainable behaviors. Here is a report from a mobile survey GeoPoll conducted in the Caribbean on Climate change perceptions.
4. Identifying vulnerable populations: Mobile surveys can be used to gather data on the vulnerability of different populations to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events and sea-level rise. This data can inform policy decisions and allocate resources to vulnerable communities. Here is another report we conducted on the impact of climate change on women in Pakistan.
5. Guide humanitarian relief responses – When natural crises such as hurricanes and floods occur, it is important for relief providers to move with speed and provide targeted aid to those in the affected areas. Mobile surveys help access such areas, which wouldn’t otherwise be reachable by researchers.

GeoPoll Climate Change Research Use Cases

Over the years, GeoPoll has developed remote mobile surveying capabilities that allow energy, climate, and environmental stakeholders to gather ongoing data to measure trends or one-off data from specific populations.

• Assess the green energy market – assess community awareness, usage, availability, and habits around green energy to inform green energy strategies.
• Assess natural disaster preparedness – assess preparedness for potential natural disasters and predict resilience levels if a natural disaster occurs.
• Assess resilient farming practices – assess farmer perceptions of, and experiences with, climate-resilient farming practices and new farming technologies.
• Monitoring and Evaluation – measure the impact of climate-focused initiatives on communities.
• Measure climate change behaviors – track community perceptions about climate change and changes in behavior due to climate.
• Measure access to resources – measure perceptions of the effectiveness of interventions intended to increase access to natural resources.
• Quickly access populations hit by climate crises – Due to our huge database of respondents and capability to move quickly, GeoPoll can deploy mobile surveys to assess the impact of the crises and assess the needs of the victims to help direct humanitarian relief.

Overall, mobile surveys can be a valuable tool for tracking climate change, but ensuring that the data collected is representative and reliable is important, and this is where GeoPoll comes in.

If you are in the climate, energy, and environment space, contact GeoPoll to learn more about our capabilities and how we can help.

The post Using Mobile to Track Climate Change appeared first on GeoPoll.

This post takes another look at the data, exploring the potential influence of education and employment on climate change perceptions.

Climate Change Belief, Worry, and Experience

Most Caribbean residents believe climate change is happening. Diving deeper into the data shows that belief in climate change increases incrementally with educational level, while uncertainty decreases. According to the UN, education is a critical agent in addressing the impacts of climate change.

With awareness about climate change comes worry and concern. Respondents with less education are far more likely to say they are “not worried at all” about climate change than respondents that have achieved higher levels of education.

The consequences of climate change disproportionately impact the most vulnerable populations, furthering inequality. In lower income countries like many in the Caribbean, poorer communities are often the hardest hit by climate catastrophes and the least equipped to adapt and recover from them. In our study, respondents with less education, which shows a positive correlation with poverty and inequality, are more likely to say they have personally experienced the effects of climate change than more highly educated respondents.

Less educated respondents are also more likely to have moved or plan to move due to the effects of climate change. As extreme weather events, coastal flooding, and erosion increase, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), like those in the Caribbean, project to be some of the fastest displaced populations across the globe.

Employment status appears to share many of the same correlations with climate change perceptions as education level. Similar to respondents that are more highly educated, respondents that are employed full time are more likely to believe climate change is happening and to be worried about climate change than respondents that are unemployed/retired. They are also less likely to have personally experienced the effects of climate change.

Personal Responsibility and Future Risk

Higher levels of education and employment do not necessarily correlate with an increased sense of personal responsibility around climate change, however. In our study, respondents that do not have a college degree are more likely to report feeling a personal responsibility to reduce climate change than those that do.

The same pattern applies to respondents that are currently unemployed/retired versus those that are employed full time.

Looking towards the future, respondents with less education more strongly agree that climate change poses a “very high risk” to the Caribbean in the next 10 years – as do respondents that are currently unemployed versus those that are employed full time.

Assessing the influence of education and employment on climate change perceptions in the Caribbean surfaces several interesting patterns. Although respondents with college degrees and those that are employed full time exhibit higher levels of awareness that climate change is happening, they are less likely to have personally experienced the effects of climate change or to feel a sense of personal responsibility to reduce climate change. This suggests that increasing awareness alone is not enough. Opportunities exist for governments and environmental agencies to help citizens from all backgrounds to internalize the oncoming risks of climate change (without having to personally experience the effects) and to become more personally involved in climate action.

Research Methodology and Sample

This study was implemented by GeoPoll using our own mobile research platform and respondent database. The questionnaire was designed by GeoPoll researchers and conducted via SMS across 13 Caribbean nations.

GeoPoll used a simple random sampling technique from GeoPoll’s respondent database of mobile subscribers to achieve a total sample size of 2,725.

Conduct Research in the Caribbean with GeoPoll

With the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season currently at hand, the Caribbean once again finds itself in harm’s way. In times of natural disaster, NGOs, governments, humanitarian groups, and other stakeholders in the development and relief sectors turn to GeoPoll for fast and affordable data collection. Our unique remote research system and methodologies, robust database, and direct integrations with mobile network operators enable us to reach affected populations otherwise cut off from the world.

To learn more about GeoPoll’s capabilities and coverage in the Caribbean, please contact us today.

The post GeoPoll Report Supplement: The Impact of Education and Employment on Climate Change Perceptions in the Caribbean appeared first on GeoPoll.

Climate change is a global crisis. In 2021, record setting climate disasters ranged from locust plagues in Kenya, to sandstorms in China, to megadrought fueled wildfires across the Western U.S. Nearly all the world’s glaciers are melting, as carbon emissions, temperatures, and sea levels continue to rise.

Rising seas, hotter temperatures, and more frequent and extreme weather events, pose a particular threat to coastal areas and island nations. As coastal flooding and erosion increase, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), like those in the Caribbean, project to be some of the most highly impacted and fastest displaced populations across the globe.

But how concerned are residents in the Caribbean about the effects of climate change? And who do they believe is responsible for taking the actions needed to prevent and adapt to those effects? To explore the answers to these questions and more, GeoPoll conducted an SMS survey in April and May 2022 across 13 countries in the Caribbean.

Findings from the survey show that most respondents believe climate change is happening and are at least somewhat worried about it. Hurricanes comprise their biggest concern with experts predicting the seventh consecutive “above average” Atlantic hurricane season in 2022. Most have personally experienced the effects of climate change including damage to infrastructure, and some have already had to move as a result.

Looking ahead, most respondents feel a sense of personal responsibility to reduce climate change, but also believe their country needs to do more.

Click below to download GeoPoll’s full written report or scroll down to view the survey data in the interactive dashboard.

Interactive Data Dashboard

Dive deeper into GeoPoll’s data on climate change perceptions in the Caribbean using the interactive dashboard below. The dashboard provides responses to each question in the survey, filterable by country, age group, and gender.

Conduct Research in the Caribbean with GeoPoll

With the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season currently at hand, the Caribbean once again finds itself in harm’s way. In times of natural disaster, NGOs, governments, humanitarian groups, and other stakeholders in the development and relief sectors turn to GeoPoll for fast and affordable data collection. Our unique remote research system and methodologies, robust database, and direct integrations with mobile network operators enable us to reach affected populations otherwise cut off from the world.

To learn more about GeoPoll’s capabilities and coverage in the Caribbean, please contact us today.

The post GeoPoll Report: Climate Change Perceptions in the Caribbean appeared first on GeoPoll.

There are 14,752 individual islands in Indonesia, and wrapped around each of the islands is thousands of miles of coastline – 33,999 miles  to be exact. Despite this, the ocean that surrounds the country’s islands has not urged individual citizens or government officials to develop an ecologically responsible society, even while climate change affects the nation in more ways than one.

To examine the public’s perception of climate change, among other social issues in Indonesia, GeoPoll recently conducted an exploratory study in the country. This post explains and analyzes the results of this survey that focus on climate change.

Survey Methodology

GeoPoll’s mobile application was used to conduct the survey in Indonesia. Respondents were asked about access to news information, social media usage, healthcare quality and accessibility, climate change, and economic development. Data was collected in May 2018, with a total of 101 responses from survey participants located across the nation.

Results

Question: Select all that apply. Which of the following are consequences of climate change 1) Increased temperature 2) Increased storms & floods 3) Change in climate 4) Earthquakes 5) Volcanic eruptions 6) Landslides 7) Other 8) I don’t know

Results:

Almost a quarter of the respondents indicated that increased storms and floods were the main consequence from climate change in Indonesia. Interestingly, this data aligns with one of the country’s main ecological problems—broad stretches of land under constant flood water.

Throughout the past three decades, the mangrove trees surrounding the Indonesian islands have been rapidly destroyed by humans. The communities living on the shore have been cutting back the mangrove trees to have better fish and shrimp farming area and to make room for rice paddies. The mangroves on the coast used to keep the ocean water levels manageable for the islands. Without the lush mangrove trees, the ocean has no barriers to keep water at bay.

Coastal towns across Indonesia wait for tides to roll in each day. During high tide, entire communities are flooded with ocean water. The residents of these areas do not intend to move away from their tight knit fishing towns. Instead, they do their best to live with the daily flooding.

Question: Select all that apply. Which of the following are causes of climate change in Indonesia? 1) Greenhouse gas emissions 2) Cutting down trees 3) Burning of fossil fuels 4) Increasing population 5) Urbanization 6) Others 7) None

Results:

The majority of respondents replied to this question that they perceive cutting down trees as the cause of climate change in Indonesia. The next highest response rate attributes climate change in the region to greenhouse gas emissions, followed by a tie between burning fossil fuels and increasing population.

The responses collected from the survey do point to deforestation as a main issue surrounding climate change in Indonesia. There are over 11.9 hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Due to the lucrative nature and global demand for palm oil, the acreage of oil palm plantations is massively increasing each year. Indonesia is the most fruitful palm oil producing nation in the world, yet this fact brings the country into the lead for global greenhouse emission levels. Behind China and the United States, Indonesia is the country emitting the most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Harvesting palm oil involves using heavy machinery to strip land of trees that used to exist there. The harvest process is not only bad for the environment because of deforestation, but it is also harmful because of the greenhouse gasses emitted during harvest and transportation.

The Indonesian harvesters have been confronted about the issues surrounding palm oil production. The farmers respond to negative messages by saying that the economic development of Indonesia should be the focus of government and harvesting should not be regulated. Change in opinion on this subject does not seem promising.

Question: On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being not concerned at all and 10 being very concerned, how concerned are you about the effects of climate change in your country? 

Results:

Although 25% of respondents were not concerned at all with the effects of climate change in Indonesia, 55% of respondents expressed moderate to severe concern—with answers 6-9.

Most of the world’s onlookers cringe at the reality of the climate change situation and it seems as though the majority of Indonesian citizens agree. The survey responses received indicate that Indonesian citizens are aware of the ecological issues in their country—and more than half are concerned about them. 55% of respondents reported being concerned about climate change. Furthermore, when participants were asked to select causes of climate change in Indonesia, the majority of respondents answered: cutting down trees, greenhouse gas emissions, and burning fossil fuels. Each of these responses can be linked to the rampant deforestation in the country caused by palm oil. The citizens of the country do not seem blind to the effects of their nation’s environmentally damaging behavior.

The data from this exploratory GeoPoll study indicates there is need for further exploration of this topic in Indonesia. Future research on this topic will provide more insight into the awareness surrounding the ecological issues in Indonesia.

GeoPoll is highly experienced in remote data collection in hard to reach areas of the world. Our mobile surveying platform has collected information from millions of people across the globe. To learn more about how our capabilities can help your company accomplish research goals, contact us today.

The post Climate Change in Indonesia, A GeoPoll Study appeared first on GeoPoll.