Climate Governance

Abstract

Abstract Climate change is prioritized by the United Nations as sustainable development goal (SDG) number 13. Community participation in climate change adaptation and mitigation is considered fundamental to achieving SDG 13. Achieving this SDG 13 could however pose a challenge if factors such as communities’ understanding and awareness of climate change are not addressed because they largely influence their participation. In the global South, the African continent is equally affected by climate change with dire consequences for its communities and its environment. Whilst literature on climate change is extensive, research analysing community understanding and awareness of climate change as factors influencing their participation in climate governance is limited. Therefore, this chapter explores the anatomy of community understanding and awareness of climate change towards nudging community participating in climate governance. Using a qualitative research approach, a case study design was used to collect data from documents, and 9 focus group discussions in the Manonyane communities of Lesotho. The results of this study showed that a lack of community participation in the Manonyane communities is in part attributed to community members being unaware of climate change and not understanding its consequences for them and the environment. Therefore, this study argues that the Lesotho NCCP should delineate the conceptual meaning of community understanding and awareness of climate change. From this, the policy should inform the development of a contextual framework to operationalize community understanding and awareness of climate change to enhance community participation in climate change policy formulation and implementation. As a result, this study proposes principles of climate governance to enhance community understanding and awareness of climate change as a starting point for successful policy formulation and implementation.