Evaluating constraints associated with farmers' adaptation strategies to climate change impact on farming in the tropical environment.

The persistent threat of climate change poses challenges to food security, despite numerous adaptation strategies, necessitating attention to achieve sustainable livelihoods. This study conducted a survey among 220 farmers in fifteen selected rural communities from five political wards in Ondo West Local Government Area, Ondo State, Nigeria, using a multistage sampling technique. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyse data obtained. The results indicated that 90 % of the farmers had knowledge of consequences of climate change, while 75 % have adopted various strategies to cope with the menace. The data were factorable at p ≤ 0.05 using KMO and Bartlett's tests. Four variables were extracted out of nine analysed as significant to the explanation of constraints to CC adaptation strategies, namely: engagement in other jobs (16.499 %); farmers' experience with the varying nature of weather patterns (14.526 %); farm size variation (13.485 %); and the difficulty posed by coping with recurring erratic rainfall (11.925 %). All four variables identified and extracted explained 56.446 % of the constraints hindering farmers from coping with climate change. The study recommended further studies to identify other variables that could be accountable for the constraints in coping with the climate change scenario in the study area. The contributions of farmers' experiences to the failure of various strategies in coping with climate change form the nexus to other extracted variables and, therefore, need further investigation for sustainable agriculture globally.

Exploring People's Perception on Pros and Cons of Human-Bat Coexistence in Urban Environs in Southwestern Nigeria.

This research intricately explores the dynamics surrounding the coexistence of humans and roosting bats in urban areas, meticulously examining both the advantageous and detrimental aspects of their living arrangement. The study conducted a comprehensive survey with 286 residents in Iwo and Ogbomoso, where Eidolon helvum bats are known to roost, generating a robust dataset for thorough analysis. Rigorous statistical assessments, including the KMO and Bartlett's tests, confirmed the data's reliability at a significance level of P < .05. The respondent demographic revealed a predominance of 65% male participants, with an overwhelming 85% claiming familiarity with bats in their respective domains. Utilizing factor analysis, the study identified 8 salient variables from the initial 26, shedding light on diverse perceptions regarding bats: (i) Urban roosting (16.729%); (ii) Impact on tree growth (12.607%); (iii) Failed dislodgement attempts (11.504%); (iv) Medicinal value (10.240%); (v) Co-habitation preference (9.963%); (vi) Costly dislodgment consequences (9.963%); (vii) Beautification disruption (5.615%); and (viii) Structure defacement (5.510%). These factors were systematically categorized into 4 distinct themes: (A) Forced cohabitation (26.762%); (B) Environmental degradation by bats (23.732%); (C) Consequences of dislodging bats (21.477%); and (D) Acknowledged benefits of bats (10.240%). Co-habitation with bats becomes a necessity for ecological balance and, importantly, to safeguard the livelihood of roosting bats within their natural ecology, which man has encroached upon through urbanization, making all negatives arising from such existence self-inflicted by man. However, this study underscores the importance of human-bat cohabitation for mutual benefits, emphasizing potential detrimental consequences, including significant costs, associated with displacing bats from their natural ecosystem. These consequences may exacerbate the impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, and ecological imbalance. Further research is recommended to explore the positive aspects of the sustainable roosting bats' existence in the natural environment.

Exploring drivers of environmental degradation in urban centres of developing countries: a case study.

A serene and pollution-free environment is the desire of the United Nations through its Sustainable Development Goal 11. This research was designed to explore various human endeavours that drive pollution in urban environs in the developing countries with Iwo, Nigeria, as a case study. Out of the four hundred and fifty (450) respondents that were randomly selected, 410 copies of structured questionnaire were completed and returned for analysis. Descriptive and inferential analytical methods were adopted for the purpose data analysis. Of all the respondents, 69.5% were females, and 95.1% were between the ages of 18 and 65 years, while 85.3% of the respondents have a minimum of secondary education. The dataset was further subjected to KMO and Bartlett's Test, the results which showed that the data is factorable with 68% at confidence level of p ≤ 0.05. Factor analysis extracted 7 variables out of the 21 variables analysed. The identified and extracted variables explained 87.745% of the variance explained by the extracted factors and their respective explanation variance are as follows: (i) palm oil activities in urban centres (20.521%); (ii) food vending outlets (14.153%); (iii) individual households within cities (13.786%); (iv) activities in the slaughter slabs and houses (11.384%); (v) auto repair workshops (9.812%); (vi) unplanned refuse dumpsites (9.571%); and (vii) in-urban free-range keeping of animals (8.745%). This research should give further insights to stakeholders, especially the policy makers in urban planning on subduing the challenges of unabated urban degradation in developing nations if human comfort and sustainability will be enhanced and that SDG 11 will be a reality come 2030.

Impact of Human Management of Hand-Dug Well Facility and Its Accessories on Groundwater Quality.

Hand-dug well facility is susceptible to pollution by natural and anthropogenic sources but pollution associated with human handling and management of hand-dug well facility and its accessories has been rarely discussed. A structured questionnaire was administered among 260 respondents cutting across the 5 quarters in Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria. The data collected was subjected to both descriptive and inferential analysis. Descriptive analysis showed that majority of the respondents were of female gender who relied largely on manual mode of fetching water in their respective hand-dug well facilities. Apart from this, different kinds of ropes of varying qualities were attached to their respective water fetchers, 72.69% of which are tyre-tube containers. Data factorability and its adequacy tests showed KMO value of 62.0% and its significance at P < .05, indicating that the data can be processed through Factor Analysis (FA). FA revealed that the pollution of well water attributed to human-handling of hand-dug well facility is associated with 8 variables with a total explanation of 75.55% namely; vicinity of the facility, the side wall quality of the hand-dug well, facility utilisation frequency, facility management authorities, maintenance of the associated facilities, quality of the lid, quality of water drawers and preference for the use of drawer at a time whether single or multiple. The findings suggest that stakeholders should make uptight effort to take the management of hand-dug well facility more conscientiously for sustainable human health. Further research is suggested to extend the frontiers of knowledge on pollutants associated with hand-dug water facility.

Analysis of Household Daily Water Consumption Dynamics in the Tropical Environment.

Understanding daily water use determinants is critical to sustainable water access and its efficient use at household level. To pursue this objective, primary data were generated through a survey of 276 respondents across the 5 quarters into which the city of Iwo is divided. 67.5% of the respondents were between 19 and 45 years old while 35.5% were between 46 and 65 years old and the remaining 3.9% comprised of those above 65 years. The results of factor analysis (FA) showed that 12 of the 40 factors analyzed were significant determinants of daily water use in homes. The 12 factors explained 85.794% of the observed variation in household daily water use. The factors in descending order were (i) closeness to water source; (ii) night time baths; (iii) household cooking; (iv) Sunday activities; (v) water demands of the dry season; (vi) morning time water use; (vii) household size; (viii) respondents' attitude; (ix) water availability in the dry season; (x) break in water flow; (xi) social events; and (xii) source of water. Further evaluation condensed the results into four categories, namely, (i) season-associated information; (ii) household-related information; (iii) time of the day; and (iv) water source-related information. The result of correlation analysis showed weak associations among 83.33% of the variables, indicating that each variable should be treated separately from others in the matter relating to daily variation in home water use. The study concluded that household-related information and time of the day (contributing 62.02% of the absolute explanation) are most significant to daily variation in water use at the household level and should be considered when prioritizing effective policies for water use and management.