Background: Smallholder farmers are one of the most vulnerable groups to climate change, yet efforts to support farmer adaptation are hindered by the lack of information on how they are experiencing and responding to climate change. More information is needed on how different types of smallholder farmers vary in their perceptions and responses to climate change, and how to tailor adaptation programs to different smallholder farmer contexts. We surveyed 860 smallholder coffee and basic grain (maize/bean) farmers across six Central American landscapes to understand farmer perceptions of climate change and the impacts they are experiencing, how they are changing their agricultural systems in response to climate change, and their adaptation needs.Results: Almost all (95%) of the surveyed smallholder farmers have observed climate change, and most are already experiencing impacts of rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and extreme weather events on crop yields, pest and disease incidence, income generation and, in some cases, food security. For example, 87% of maize farmers and 66% of coffee farmers reported negative impacts of climate change on crop production, and 32% of all smallholder farmers reported food insecurity following extreme weather events. Of the farmers perceiving changes in climate, 46% indicated that they had changed their farming practices in response to climate change, with the most common adaptation measure being the planting of trees. There was significant heterogeneity among farmers in the severity of climate change impacts, their responses to these impacts, and their adaptation needs. This heterogeneity likely reflects the wide diversity of socioeconomic and biophysical contexts across smallholder farms and landscapes. Conclusions:Our study demonstrates that climate change is already having significant adverse impacts on smallholder coffee and basic grain farmers across the Central American region. There is an urgent need for governments, donors and practitioners to ramp up efforts to help smallholder farmers cope with existing climate impacts and build resiliency to future changes. Our results also highlight the importance of tailoring of climate adaptation policies and programs to the diverse socioeconomic conditions, biophysical contexts, and climatic stresses that smallholder farmers face.

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Abstract:The degree to which geographical location rather than environment affects the maintenance of high tropical forest beta diversity on altitudinal gradients is not well understood. Forest composition and its relationship to climate, soil, altitude and geographical distance were determined across an 1114-km2 landscape in south Pacific Costa Rica spanning an altitudinal gradient (0–1500 m asl). In 37 0.25-ha plots, > 200 species of dicot trees (≥ 30 cm dbh) and canopy palms (≥ 10 cm dbh) were found. Ordination analysis showed strong species composition patterns related to altitude; plot coordinates on the main axis showed negative correlations to the abundance of lowland-forest species Iriartea deltoidea (r = −0.54) and Brosimum utile (r = −0.65), and positive correlations to higher-altitude species Alchornea glandulosa (r = 0.63), Quercus sp. (r = 0.50) and Ocotea sp. 2 (r = 0.48). Mantel correlations, correlograms and variation partitioning analysis of relationships between floristic composition and spatial and environmental factors indicated that spatial location of the plots – potentially, dispersal limitation – was the single most important (R2adj = 0.149) driver of beta diversity, but that environmental heterogeneity also plays an important role. In particular, palm species turnover was strongly related to soil chemical properties. The effects of dispersal limitation on floristic assembly could determine the future distribution of plant communities as a result of climate change.

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Significance Food production depends on biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES) such as pest control and pollination. Our knowledge about biodiversity benefits to crop production has increased in recent decades, but most studies treat ES separately and then add up their values. Ignoring that these services, being part of the same system, likely interact is blinding us to potential synergies and trade-offs. Our field experiment shows, at realistic field scales, that pest control and pollination can interact positively. This synergy translates directly to improved yields and income for coffee farmers, who produce a global commodity worth $24 billion per year. Our findings highlight the need to study interactions to understand the linkages between biodiversity, ES, and farmers’ livelihoods.

Introducción. En Centroamérica, los pequeños caficultores están amenazados por el aumento en las temperaturas y los cambios en los patrones de lluvia. Una estrategia para apoyar a las comunidades de pequeños agricultores a adaptarse al cambio climático es el uso de prácticas de Adaptación basada en Ecosistemas (AbE), las cuales integran la conservación, restauración y manejo sostenible de ecosistemas y biodiversidad. Sin embargo, existe poca información de cómo los productores utilizan estas prácticas. Objetivo. El objetivo de este estudio fue describir el uso de once prácticas de AbE entre pequeños agricultores de café, de cinco paisajes ubicados en Costa Rica, Honduras y Guatemala, así como comparar las características biofísicas y frecuencia de uso de las mismas entre paisajes. Materiales y métodos. La caracterización de las prácticas de AbE se realizó utilizando mapeo participativo, entrevistas, y mediciones de área y estructura y composición de la vegetación, entre julio 2014 y junio 2015. La comparación entre paisajes se realizó mediante un análisis de varianza. Resultados. Los resultados indican que muchos pequeños agricultores de café están implementando activamente el uso de prácticas AbE, entre ellas el uso de árboles de sombra en cafetales, los surcos en contorno, los huertos caseros y las cercas vivas. Sin embargo, existieron diferencias importantes entre paisajes en cuanto al uso y las características de AbE implementadas. Conclusión. Estas diferencias sugieren que los productores adaptan el uso de dichas prácticas en respuesta a los contextos sociales y biofísicos del medio en donde viven, y que existe valor en hacer intercambio de productores de diferentes regiones para compartir su conocimiento sobre estas prácticas.

In Central America maize and beans are usually cultivated by farmers who have small landholdings and live in vulnerable situations. Climate change is an important threat to these smallholder basic grain farmers, putting at risk their production systems and their livelihoods. The use of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) can help them to adapt to climate change, however there is limited information on the use of EbA. The objective of the present work was to characterize the EbA strategies that smallholder basic grain farmers of four landscapes in Guatemala and Honduras use to increase their resilience to climate change. Using interviews and field measurements in 160 farms, between July 2014 and June 2015, we 1) explored how common the use of different EbA practices is, 2) documented the biophysical characteristics of these practices, and 3) explored if the implementation and characteristics of EbA practices differed among landscapes. Our results indicate that even though they own small land areas (mean maize plot area of ~0.68 ha), have low education levels and low access to technical training and advice, many smallholder basic grain farmers are using EbA practices in their farms. The most common EbA practices were the use of dispersed trees, home gardens and live fences. An ANOVA anlysis indicated significant differences in the use of different EbA practices among farmers, which suggests that farmers adapt practices in response to the social and biophysical conditions where they live. Our study suggests that smallholder basic grain farmers have the experience and the knowledge to use EbA practices and recognize the benefits derived from the implementation of such practices. However, in order to increase use of EbA practices, more technical, financial and political support is needed.