Perceived effects of climate change on plants and its potential impact on tourism - a perspective of the local residents of Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

We seek to establish an overview of the perceived causes and manifestations of climate change amongst the community in, and adjacent to, the Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) in Kenya, and to determine the perceived effects of climate changes on plant communities in the region. This study shows that practically every respondent drawn from the employees of MMNR and the local community has heard of climate change, demonstrating that awareness of climate change in the locale can be very pervasive. No significant differences have been found between the MMNR staff and members of the local community with respect to their awareness of climate change, suggesting the ubiquitousness of climate change knowledge throughout the two groups. However, the results also suggest that although most respondents know something about climate change, they can be quite ignorant of the technical details of the phenomenon. The perception of respondents about their knowledge of climate change also turns out to be influenced by gender, age and education level.

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