Farmers’ perceptions and matching climate records jointly explain adaptation responses in four communities around Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Abstract

Farmers’ climate perceptions are responsible for shaping their adaptive responses and are thus essential to consider for the design of strategies to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience. In this study, we collected social data in four communities in the central Ethiopian Highlands on farmers’ climate perceptions and adaptations using group discussions and PRA tools. We related these to climate data spanning 30 years (1981 to 2010), consisting of daily minimum temperature, maximum temperature and precipitation, modelled for the four communities using global databases and regional meteorological data. We found that farmers’ climate perceptions showed considerable spatial and gender differences. Perceptions matched well with records describing climate variability, particularly in terms of the shortening and the increased variability of the rainy season, as well as the occurrence of extreme drought in recent years. Climate change, described by long-term average increases in temperature and decreases in precipitation, was perceived, but with subordinate priority. Perceived climate impacts included reduced crop yield, increased occurrence of pests and diseases and increased crop damage by extreme events and poverty. Adaptations were mainly land based and included agronomic measures, land management and ecosystem restoration. Furthermore, important gender differences in adaptation could be traced back to typical gender roles. Results highlight the risk of broadcast adaptation programs, such as the government-propagated combination of mineral fertilizers and early maturing crop varieties. Most importantly, they point to the need to consider climate variability, site- and gender-specific perceptions and priorities.

Spatial Variability and Temporal Trends of Climate Change in Southwest Ethiopia: Association with Farmers’ Perception and Their Adaptation Strategies

“…is indicated that though farmers in the study area had good perceptions of climate change and its impact, they had weak adaptive capacity. In line with this, Darabant et al [27] and Bekele et al [61] reported that though farmers' awareness of climate change had been improved through time, the level of adoption of different adaptation strategies to offset the negative impact of climate change is still low and external supports have to be provided. Furthermore, poverty, food insecurity, natural resources' degradation, high population growth, and poor social services pose multiple stresses on smallholder farmers and planned adaptation has to be implemented to strengthen the weak adaptive capacity of those people [62].…”

“…Moreover, Esayas et al [18] explained that farmers' perception of climate change is further influenced by social, economic, demographic, and institutional factors. us, for better planning and adoption of strategies to cope with the impacts of climate change, exploring farmers' perceptions linked with the analysis of climate data at a local level is vital [25,27].…”

“…erefore, comparing scientific evidence with farmers' perception of climate change and incorporating their indigenous knowledge into climate change adaptation strategies is a key to success [25][26][27]. In this context, three types of evidence have been generated in Ethiopia.…”

Farmers’ Perceived Vulnerability and Proactive versus Reactive Climate Change Adaptation in Chile’s Maule Region

“…IPCC defines vulnerability as "the propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected" [32], which entails the degree to which a system is susceptible to adverse effects, the function of the magnitude and rate of climate variation, and the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the system, resulting in a multidimensional concept that bridges biophysical and social aspects [33][34][35]. Several studies have proposed indicators to measure vulnerability, including location, socio-demographic aspects, and physical, social, human, and natural capital as the main components of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, with the aim of identifying key components of vulnerability and/or relating it to adaptation behavior [34][35][36][37][38][39][40].…”

“…Several studies have proposed indicators to measure vulnerability, including location, socio-demographic aspects, and physical, social, human, and natural capital as the main components of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity, with the aim of identifying key components of vulnerability and/or relating it to adaptation behavior [34][35][36][37][38][39][40]. Nevertheless, in the literature, increasing attention has been given to perceived vulnerability and awareness of climate change [33,41,42], as it has been demonstrated that there is a strong link between perceptions and adaptation [11,[14][15][16][43][44][45][46]. Likewise, the relationship between perceived vulnerability and bio-physical data has also been studied and it was concluded that there is a positive trend between them [42,47].…”