Perceptions of climate variability and livelihood adaptations relating to gender and wealth among the Adi community of the Eastern Indian Himalayas

The impacts of extreme weather events and climate variability on natural resource dependent farmers will further increase their vulnerability. This study describes how Adi farmers in Arunachal Pradesh (India) perceive and adapt to climate variability, and how this is influenced by gender and wealth. A total of 65 male and 71 female Adi farmers were interviewed or participated in focus group discussions. Both men and women have noticed there are fewer rainy days, longer summers, shorter winters and more erratic rainfall. However, some perceptions of change were gender and/or wealth class specific. Adi women noticed changes across areas they control including collecting forest foods, crop harvesting, and fermenting and storing of food. Men noted climate variability had made hunting wild game and marketing agricultural produce more difficult. Wealthy people were better placed to adapt to climate variability than poorer people because they could intensify their production systems. They switched to rainfed maize with improved varieties and horticultural cash crops which need more costly inputs. Wealthy people, particularly men, also received more advice and training than poorer people. Poorer farmers, particularly poor women, adapted predominantly by diversifying activities, such as using drought tolerant oil seeds and subsistence horticultural crops, accessing forest-based resources, rearing pigs and poultry, increasing fishing and the making of handicrafts. Storage, exchange and pooling of local resources were further strategies of the poor. This deeper understanding of Adi livelihood adaptation strategies will help increase their resilience by improving targeting of location specific extension services and adaptation policies.     

国内外农户对气候变化/变异感知与适应研究

基于国内外农户气候变化感知和适应研究进展,在辨析气候变化和气候变异概念的基础上,阐释农户气候变化/变异感知结果及影响因素。研究发现农户气候变化感知与适应行为之间存在不确定关系,农户气候变化感知直接转化为适应策略需克服一系列障碍因素。针对农户气候变化适应策略,在系统梳理国内外农户适应策略的基础上,对这些策略是否属于气候变化和变异适应行为提出质疑,认为不能忽略其他复杂的社会经济和政治因素对这些措施的驱动作用。最后,对中国未来研究提出慎重大规模开展农户气候变化感知及适应研究、厘清气候变化/变异感知与适应策略之间关系和重视时空异质性以及农户异质性研究三点展望。     

石羊河流域农户对气候变化的感知及其影响因素

农户对气候变化的感知是影响其选择有效适应策略的关键因素。基于农户调查数据,构建了农户对气候变化的感知度指数,分析了石羊河流域农户对气候变化的感知特征,并采用多元线性回归法分析了影响农户气候变化感知的关键因素。结果表明：（1）石羊河流域农户对气温的感知比较准确,但对降水的感知出现偏差,农户对干旱、沙尘暴的感知强度明显高于其他气象灾害;（2）农户对气候变化的严重性感知较强,大部分农户认为气候变化对其生计产生了严重影响;（3）农户感知到的气候变化适应功效及适应成本均较高,但感知到的自我效能较弱;（4）影响气候变化敏感性感知的关键因素为户主受教育水平、务农年限、气候变化信息获取渠道;影响气候变化严重性感知与适应成本感知的关键因素均为户主性别、受教育水平及与村民的交流频率;影响适应功效感知的关键因素为与村民的交流频率;影响自我效能感知的关键因素为户主受教育水平。     

社会—生态系统视角下农户对禁牧政策的适应性——以宁夏盐池县为例

为了保护草原生态环境,2002年起国家全面实施“退牧还草”工程,在草原破坏严重的地区实施禁牧政策。政策实施后,草地生态明显恢复。作为草原最主要的经济活动主体和禁牧政策的最直接承受者,农户对政策的适应性直接影响政策的顺利进行以及生态环境恢复的可持续性。基于宁夏盐池县入户调查资料,研究了不同类型农户对禁牧政策的生态环境效应感知以及对禁牧政策适应能力感知,分析了不同类型农户对禁牧政策的应对策略,探讨了影响农户适应策略选择的主要因素。结果表明：（1）盐池县社会-生态系统尚处于不理想的系统稳态,生态系统恢复明显,但社会系统的适应性较低。农户普遍认为禁牧政策实施对生态环境有很大的改善,但对禁牧政策满意度感知处于中等水平,对禁牧政策适应能力的感知处于较低水平。由于生计方式和收入水平的差异,不同类型农户对禁牧政策的适应性感知差异较大。（2）不同类型农户采取不同适应策略应对禁牧政策实施造成的影响。纯农户适应策略以收缩型为主,兼业户和非农户以调节型为主,低收入和中等收入农户以收缩型为主,高收入农户以调节型为主。（3）农户对禁牧政策的适应成本、自我效能和农户拥有的人力资本、金融资本是影响农户适应性策略类型选择的主要因素。     

Scientific documentation of crop land changes in the Sahel: A half empty box of knowledge to support policy?

The Sahel has been subject of considerable environmental research and development efforts, specifically since the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. This article uses a meta-study approach to summarize knowledge of crop land change, the documented driving forces, and the perceived impacts. The analysis of case studies shows that crop land has increased in the majority of cases mainly due to population increase. However, despite population increase, crop land has been stable in some areas, particularly where land availability is a limiting factor or where farmers are able to intensify their farmers from expanding their plots or because households have diversified their activities. The study shows the huge gap in the scientific literature concerning actual measurements of crop land change in the Sahel, which is in contrast to the attention given to crop land changes in theoretical and policy discourses. On the basis of the poor documentation available on crop land change and the contrasting results observed, we point out the need to exercise caution with regard to simple narratives about crop land change.     

气候变化对石羊河流域农户生计资本的影响

气候变化是全球变化的核心问题,其影响已经深入到人类生活的各个领域,引起了国际社会的广泛关注。明确气候变化对农户生计的影响以及农户适应气候变化的策略及其需求,是区域可持续发展中急需解决的关键问题。本文基于石羊河流域1963-2012年气候变化和493个农户的入户调查数据,分析了气候变化对石羊河流域不同福利水平农户生计资本的影响及农户适应气候变化的策略和需求。结果表明:(1)流域上游气候呈显著的暖湿化趋势,中游和下游气候暖湿化趋势不显著。(2)气候变化对中游和下游农户生计资本的影响均大于上游农户,其中,对中等福利群体的生计资本影响最显著,对高福利群体的影响次之,对低福利群体的影响最小。农户自然资本受气候变化的影响最强,物质资本和社会资本受气候变化的影响最弱。(3)流域内农户均倾向选择减少消费和外出务工来适应气候变化,其中,选择减少消费的农户比重最高,选择外出务工和向亲属或政府求助的比重次之。高福利群体中选择减少消费和外出务工策略的比重较高,中等福利群体中选择求助亲属或政府策略的比重较高。(4)流域内农户对信息和资金的需求均较显著,其中,对信息的需求最强烈,对资金、技术和劳动力素质的需求次之。高福利群体和低福利群体在就业信息方面的需求最强烈,中等福利群体在农牧业市场信息方面的需求最强烈。     

Drivers of farmer satisfaction with small-scale irrigation systems

Climate change impacts the quantity and seasonality of rainfall, threatening Africans' ability to maintain satisfactory yields on rain-fed farms. On the semi-arid northwestern slopes of Mount Kenya, irrigation systems structured around Community Water Projects (CWPs) provide households with piped water, which helps mitigate drought impacts and enhances resilience to increasingly variable rainfall patterns. The vision of these irrigation systems is to equitably distribute water resources among CWP members both for household consumption and to maintain or improve agricultural yields. However, not all households receive equal quantities of water from their CWPs, and little is known about the impact of water provisioning on farmers' opinions or perceptions of CWP performance.In this study, we relate respondents' satisfaction with their CWPs to the quantity of water delivered. Not surprisingly, farmers who received low quantities of water from their CWPs expressed above-average rates of concern regarding drought. In contrast, satisfaction with one's CWP was unrelated to the absolute quantity of water received (log liters/minute), but it was strongly associated with relative measures of water delivery: respondents who received less water than other members of the same water project experienced high rates of dissatisfaction, as did respondents who received less water than in the past. These results suggest that Kenyan farmers may feel particularly dissatisfied—and, perhaps, particularly driven to demand improved water governance—when they perceive inadequate water delivery relative to some reference group.Because relative water quantity dictates satisfaction even after controlling for factors that can be resolved internally at the CWP level (by, for example, striving for uniformity of water flows across and within households), water project managers are limited to some degree in their ability to improve satisfaction through better governance. That said, governance actions that prevent declines in flows over time (e.g. maintaining infrastructure to reduce leaks) could ostensibly lead to meaningful improvements in member satisfaction.     

Climate change effects at your doorstep: Geographic visualization to support Nordic homeowners in adapting to climate change

The complexity of climate information, particularly as related to climate scenarios, impacts, and action alternatives, poses significant challenges for science communication. This study presents a geographic visualization approach involving lay audiences to address these challenges. VisAdapt™ is a web-based visualization tool designed to improve Nordic homeowners’ understanding of climate change vulnerability and to support their adaptive actions. VisAdapt is structured to enable individual users to explore several climate change impact parameters, including temperature and precipitation, for their locations and to find information on specific adaptation measures for their house types and locations. The process of testing the tool included a focus group study with homeowners in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden to assess key challenges in geographic visualization, such as the level of interactivity and information. The paper concludes that geographic visualization tools can support homeowners’ climate adaptation processes, but that certain features, such as downscaled climate information are a key element expected by users. Although the assessment of interactivity and data varied both across countries and user experience, a general conclusion is that a geographic visualization tool, like VisAdapt, can make climate change effects and adaptation alternatives tangible and initiate discussions and collaborative reflections.     

传统村落农户乡村旅游适应性评价与影响因素研究——基于湘西州6个村落的调查

基于传统村落农户乡村旅游适应性分析框架构建适应性评价指标体系,以湘西州6个传统村落327户农户为研究对象,通过参与式农村评估法获取数据,运用主成分分析等方法分析传统村落农户乡村旅游适应类型、程度和影响因素。结果表明： 农户适应类型可划分为全面适应型、认知缺失型、生态主导型、政策缺失型、文化主导型和发展滞后型6种,各类型特点不一; 农户总体适应程度从高到低依次为全面适应型、文化主导型、认知缺失型、政策缺失型、生态主导型和发展滞后型,全面适应型为比较适应,其他均为一般适应; 每种适应类型在6类因子适应程度上表现有内部差异,除全面适应型外,其他适应类型在社会、文化、经济三类因子的适应程度上普遍较低; 政策、社会、生态、经济和心理5类因子中有13个影响因素对农户乡村旅游适应性有影响,影响程度不一。最后,从农户、社区和政府3个层面提出传统村落农户乡村旅游适应性提升建议。     

乡村农户旅游适应效果、模式及其影响因素——以西安市和咸阳市17个案例村为例

乡村旅游地面临人地交互作用的剧烈变迁,内部要素适应社会-生态系统变化,趋利避害降低脆弱性具有重要现实意义。本文重新界定基于恢复力和脆弱性的农户适应性理论内涵,构建旅游开发适应力指标体系,以西安市和咸阳市17个不同类型的城郊型乡村旅游地为例,评价和分析农户旅游适应效果与空间差异规律,探讨和归纳适应行为与对策模式,建立BP神经网络辨别和揭示适应性影响因素与重要性关系。研究表明：① 西安市和咸阳市农户适应旅游开发综合效果呈现中等偏下水平的偏态分布趋势,分别处于旅游地生命周期快速发展阶段和探索起步阶段。② 乡村旅游地农户适应效果形成“圈层辐射、两翼包络、外围联动”的县域尺度空间分布格局;村域尺度圈层分化现象显著。③ 经营模式划分的旅游乡村农户适应效果股份制模式>“公司+农户”模式>“政府+公司+农户”模式>个体农庄模式>“农户+农户”模式;常年外出务工和农家乐经营是农户主要适应行为选择,季节性务工、本地上班以及农业生产是辅助适应行为选择,且适应行为组合方式表现为旅游专营型、旅游主导型、均衡兼营型、务工主导型和务农主导型五种适应对策模式。④ 旅游发展机会认知、技能培训机会、社会联结度、劳动力总量、政策知晓度、旅游就业人数、收入来源种类、生活主要能源、受教育程度、公共服务设施是农户主要旅游适应性影响因素。据此,提出后续社会-生态整合研究亟需突破方向和适应旅游开发的政策路径。     

Agricultural adaptation to drought in the Sri Lankan dry zone

Droughts affect more people than any other natural disaster. Drought severity is not merely a function of precipitation; it emerges from a web of interrelations between human and natural systems. The impacts of drought are equally complex, shifting across temporal scales, economic sectors, and regions. Even in regions with similar hydroclimatic characteristics, there is tremendous variation in the effects of drought. This study combines satellite imagery, geospatial data, and qualitative data to identify the multi-scalar factors that drive variations in agricultural responses to drought. We analyzed eleven years of remotely sensed imagery to identify agricultural areas in which cultivation occurred during an extreme drought in Sri Lanka. We visited a subset of these communities and conducted interviews with officials and farmers to identify the factors that influenced agricultural adaptation. Results suggest that though structural factors such as infrastructural capacity and physical environment significantly affect agricultural adaptation, dynamic factors such as local control of water supply, perceived risk, community cohesion, and farmer experience explain significant variation in the adaptive capacity of agricultural systems.     

干旱环境胁迫下农户适应性研究——基于民勤绿洲地区农户调查数据

适应能力及其评估框架为农户生计研究提供了一个新思路。本文在干旱环境背景下,借鉴农户可持续生计和适应能力相关理论,探讨民勤绿洲地区农户适应能力及适应行为。按照适应能力评估框架,构建农户适应能力评价指标体系,通过问卷和实地调查获取数据,在农户适应行为分类的基础上,测量不同适应类型农户的适应能力,分析影响农户适应类型的因素。结果表明：①从农户的适应行为来看,积极主动的适应行为选择较多,减少消费、参加社会保险等适应行为选择较少;农户适应类型中,综合适应型的比重最大,被动适应型最小。②农户的适应能力方面,各维度整体分布较为均衡,但自然能力和社会能力存在显著分异,而物质能力、金融能力、劳动能力和学习能力较均衡;不同农户适应类型中,综合适应型农户适应能力更稳定,务工主导型和被动适应型的稳定性较差。在适应能力六大维度中,物质能力在六大农户适应类型中所占比重最大,自然能力最小。③家庭物质资产、非农就业比重、社会网络、人均“退还关压”面积、受教育程度等适应能力指标对农户的适应行为选择具有显著影响。     

农户受灾经历对气候变化感知与适应行为的影响研究

采用陕北农户样本调查数据与气象数据,使用独立样本T检验和路径分析探究农户受灾经历对气候变化感知与适应行为的影响。结果发现:受灾经历越丰富的农户越能准确感知气温、降水变化和全球变暖。农户的受灾经历对气温变化感知有正向影响,并通过其对迁移适应行为有间接的负向影响;受灾经历对降水变化感知有负向影响,并通过其对技术适应行为有负向影响、对迁移适应行为产生正向影响;农户受灾经历增强了全球变暖信念,并通过其对经济适应行为和技术适应行为产生间接的正向影响;受灾经历对迁移适应行为有直接的负向影响。     

乡村农户适应旅游发展的模式及影响机制——以秦岭金丝峡景区为例

社会—生态系统理论为旅游影响与旅游可持续发展研究提供了新的分析思路,已成为国际上旅游研究的重要理论工具。从社会—生态系统适应性出发,借鉴脆弱性研究中的适应性理论,构建农户旅游发展适应性分析框架,以陕西秦岭金丝峡景区为案例,通过实地调查和访谈获取数据,较系统地研究了农户适应旅游发展的行为模式、影响因素及机制。主要结论包括：① 旅游业推动小河流域农业商品化,但并未促进农业增长,相反农业生产功能大幅衰退;农户以旅游经营和常年务工作为主要对策,形成了旅游专营型、主导型、均衡兼营型及务工主导型四种适应效果差异显著的适应模式。② 农户适应旅游发展的影响因素包括认知因素(机会和政策认知)、劳动力(劳动力总量、聘用人数)、地理区位(可达性与区位优势度)、自然资本(耕地面积)、物质资产(房屋类型) 和社会资本(邻里关系) 。③ 旅游开发导致的自然生计资源缺失与农户生存理性之间的矛盾是适应发生的根源,社区补偿制度是重要推动力量;农户社会理性与经济理性偏好决定着其适应模式选择;适应效果受适应力驱动因素影响。最后对旅游影响的社会—生态整合研究有效性进行讨论,并提出后续深化研究的方向和本研究的实践启示。     

“Forever Hmong”: Ethnic Minority Livelihoods and Agrarian Transition in Upland Northern Vietnam

This article examines how ethnic minority Hmong farmers have adapted to, circumnavigated, or resisted state-sponsored agrarian change and other interventions in the northern Vietnam uplands over the past twenty years. Based on longitudinal research with Hmong informants, I examine to what extent their livelihood strategies have led to wealth creation or differentiation. The article highlights the most important transformations, as farmers conceive and voice them, to Hmong agrarian livelihoods over this period, the importance of longitudinal fieldwork to help unravel endogenous wealth definitions, and the complex impacts of state interventions on ethnic minority ways of making a living.     

How Do Farmers’ Climate Change Beliefs Affect Adaptation to Climate Change?

This exploratory study aims to examine (1) the reasons for farmers’ range of climate change beliefs and (2) how those beliefs affect their climate change adaptation responses. Interviews with 11 key-informant irrigators from the South Australian Riverland uncovered skepticism about climate change predictions. Interviewees mostly believed changes to the climate were not human-induced but were a result of natural cycles, which meant that they then felt less obliged to undertake climate-change adaptation responses. With low water allocations and low commodity prices, most did not identify climate change as their most compelling problem. They found it hard to identify climate change adaptation options beyond those they had implemented to manage their immediate problems. The reasons for interviewees’ stated skepticism are complex, but not as equated to disbelief as they might seem. Their beliefs about climate change appear to be chosen to allow them to retain hope for the future.     

Spatio-temporal Characteristics of the Extreme Climate Events and Their Potential Effects on Crop Yield in Ethiopia

Extreme climate events exhibit an increasing spatio-temporal trend globally, and the increasing intensity and frequency may have severe impacts on the human society and natural ecosystems. This study analyzed the extreme temperature and precipitation variability from 1956 to 2016, and evaluated their potential effects on crop yield in Ethiopia. Relative extreme temperature indices exhibited a decreasing trend with low-temperature events, but a significantly upward trend with extreme high temperature events. The frequency of annual warm nights increased to a greater degree than that of cold days. The total annual wet-day precipitation decreased significantly at a rate of -46 mm/decade. Further, the succession of dry days gradually increased by 5.6 day/decade, while an opposite trend of wet days was found with a decline of 1.4 day/ decade. The correlation between annual precipitation and crop production was 0.422, indicating that extreme precipitation indices may have higher explanatory power than extreme temperature indices in the crop yield variations. Moreover, the extreme climate changes have induced significant adverse impacts on crops yield particularly in Ethiopia where no proper adaptation measures have been implemented.     

Impacts and effects of government regulation on farmers’ responses to drought: A case study of North China Plain

Frequent extreme weather events like drought, etc. in the context of climate change present huge challenges to agricultural production. To find out if farmers have taken measures against them and identify governments’ impact on their response measures are the foundation of and key to further improving relevant policies and farmers’ responsiveness. Taking the North China Plain as an example, the study analyzes farmers’ responses to frequent climate change-induced drought, and assesses the impacts of governments’ early-warning, policy support and other factors on farmers’ responses based on questionnaire survey data and an econometric approach. The results show that: (1) Farmers are responsive to drought, and they are more likely to take measures as the degree of drought deepening. (2) Governments’ regulation affects farmers’ responses, although only part of its regulation measures has remarkable effects. Governments’ early-warning messages can increase the possibility of farmers’ responding to drought, however, only when they get the early-warning in all the processes including before, during, and after disasters can the effects be significant. Currently, as the primary channel through which early-warning information is released, television cannot change farmers’ behaviors significantly. Early-warning is most effective when spread via two or more types of channels. In addition, governments’ (especially town and village level institutions’) policy support has certain impacts on farmers’ responses to drought, yet with less prominent effects in disaster years than in normal years; to provide subsidies, as a regulation measure, can encourage farmers’ initiative a lot in adopting response measures, but most of the farmers haven’t got support from any institutions. Both the structure and strength of government regulation need to be improved. (3) Farmers with different conditions respond differently. Farmer households in irrigation areas, those whose farmland is lower fragmented, and those with numerous agricultural family members tend to take response measures. The study can provide scientific reference to the making of relevant regulation policies under the background of acidifications.     

Gendering Climate Change: Geographical Insights

Although climate change is expected to increase vulnerabilities, marginalization, and sufferings of many in the Global South, impacts will be unevenly felt across social strata. Intersectionalities of social difference, especially along gender and class lines, differentiate the ways in which impacts of climate change are experienced and responded to. Feminist political ecology and feminist geography insights can explain how different groups of people understand, respond to, and cope with variability and uncertainties in nuanced and critical ways, thereby elucidating the gendered implications of climate change. With a regional focus on South Asia, the article underscores the key issues that can be applied geographically elsewhere. Gendered implications of climate change in South Asia are particularly poignant as patriarchal norms, inequities, and inequalities often place women and men in differentiated positions in their abilities to respond to and cope with dramatic changes in socioecological relations but also foreground the complex ways in which social power relations operate in communal responses to adaptation strategies. This is particularly evident in water-related productive and reproductive tasks in agrarian societies that constitute the majority of South Asia. As climate change is expected to exacerbate both ecological degradation (e.g., water shortages) and water-related natural hazards (e.g., floods, cyclones), thereby transforming gender–water geographies, it becomes imperative to undertake careful multiscalar and critical analyses to better inform policymaking. This article elucidates the complex ways that climate change will affect gender and social relations, thereby highlighting the ways that existing policy narratives and adaptation programs might be better informed by geographical insights. To this end, the article encourages feminist and critical geographers to more forcefully and fruitfully engage with global debates on climate change.     

Perceptions of Climate Change and Adaptation Responses in a Local Community: the Barwon Estuary Complex,Victoria

The climate change focus in Australia has shifted from mitigation to adaptation with an emphasis on place-specific case studies. The Barwon Estuary Complex (BEC) on the Bellarine Peninsula, central Victoria, was the focus of this place-specific study in which 37 local stakeholders were consulted through a series of semi-structured interviews on the impacts of climate change on their coastal community. Overall there was uniformity in stakeholder perceptions of the climate change impacts and vulnerabilities pertaining to the BEC. In contrast, discussion on adaptation drew a diversity of responses. While 53 per cent of stakeholders indicated a need to limit the use of hard structures, and rather plan around a changing estuarine environment, opinion amongst the community group was divided. Some believed ‘retreat is the only option’ whilst others felt ‘there won't be much leaving’. The present level of confusion around adaptation highlights the imperative of commencing discussions now to allow sufficient time to develop strategies which are both environmentally and socially responsible. This is important as ultimately it will be the community that will determine whether adaptation strategies are adopted or met with resistance.