climate Article The Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on Households’ Vulnerability to Climate Change in Semiarid Towns of Mopani, South Africa Musa Yusuf Jimoh 1,2,*, Peter Bikam 1 and Hector Chikoore 3 1 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, Limpopo 0950, South Africa;
[email protected] 2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Ilorin, Ilorin 240003, Nigeria 3 Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark 1900, South Africa;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +27-68-072-631 or +234-818-871-9036 Abstract: The changing climate and its current rate, frequency, as well as its life-threatening impacts are undoubtedly abnormal and globally worrisome. Its effects are expected to be severely differ- ent across segments of the society. It is disposed to leaving no facet of human endeavor immune, particularly in vulnerable cities of developing countries where there is dearth of empirical studies. For the context-specific nature of climate change impacts and place-based character of vulnerability, this study explores the influence of socioeconomic attributes on household vulnerability in Mopani District northeast of South Africa to provide basis for targeting, formulating, evaluating, and moni- toring adaptation policies, programs, and projects. The study adopted a multistage random sampling to draw 500 households from six towns in Mopani District, Limpopo Province. Mixed methods approach was used for data collection, while Household Vulnerability Index (HVI) was estimated using principal component analysis and regressed with socioeconomic attributes. The study reveals that climate is changing with high HVI across selected towns.