Mountain Farming Systems’ Exposure and Sensitivity to Climate Change and Variability: Agroforestry and Conventional Agriculture Systems Compared in Ecuador’s Indigenous Territory of Kayambi People

Abstract

Smallholder farming is considered one of the most vulnerable sectors to the impacts of climate change, variability, and extremes, especially in the developing world. This high vulnerability is due to the socioeconomic limitations and high environmental sensitivity which affect the biophysical and socioeconomic components of their farming systems. Therefore, systems’ functionality and farmers’ livelihoods will also be affected, with significant implications for global food security, land-use/land-cover change processes and agrobiodiversity conservation. Thus, less vulnerable and more resilient smallholder farming systems constitute an important requisite for sustainable land management and to safeguard the livelihoods of millions of rural and urban households. This study compares a comprehensive socioeconomic and environmental dataset collected in 2015–2016 based on household interviews of 30 farmers of highland agroforestry systems and 30 farmers of conventional agriculture systems, to determine which system provides better opportunities to reduce exposure and sensitivity. A modified Climate Change Questionnaire Version 2 of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) was applied to collect the data. The interview data are based on the perceptions of Kayambi indigenous farmers about the levels of exposure and sensitivity of their farming systems during the last decade. Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the data from the 60 farms. Results indicate that both agroforesters and conventional farmers clearly perceived increases in temperature and reductions in precipitation for the last decade, and expected this trend to continue in the next decade. Furthermore, conventional farmers perceived greater exposure to droughts (20%), solar radiation (43%), and pests, weeds and disease outbreaks (40%) than agroforesters. Additionally, results emphasize the better ability of agroforestry systems to reduce exposure and sensitivity to climate change and variability. These findings support the well-known assumptions about the key role played by agroforestry systems for climate change adaptation and mitigation, especially in developing countries.

Local reports of climate change impacts in Sierra Nevada, Spain: sociodemographic and geographical patterns

“…Informants also perceived changes in the human system, being changes in crop productivity and quality, crop disease and pests, and crops phenology the changes most reported by informants. Importantly and as in other mountain pastoral communities (Wang and Cao 2015 ; Tilahun et al 2017 ; Uprety et al 2017 ; Kharumnuid et al 2018 ; Córdova et al 2019 ), Sierra Nevada respondents with professions directly devoted to the primary sector also perceived several changes in availability and quality of pastures and pest and diseases in livestock species and bees. To us, the richness of reports of change documented through local knowledge could be at the basis for efforts to explore synergies between local ecological knowledge and science.…”

“…Overall, the finding concords with previous literature reviews of local observations of climate change impacts (Savo et al 2016 ; Reyes-García et al 2019 ) and recent research in the area (Garteizgogeascoa et al 2020 ) signaling that local inhabitants perceive changes attributable to climate change impacts. Changes directly related to the water-cycle (e.g., changes in rainfall, changes in freshwater availability, changes in ice and snow) were reported by most informants, as it is also the case in other mountain regions (Xu et al 2009 ; Postigo 2014 ; Shijin and Dahe 2015 ; Córdova et al 2019 ; Huang et al 2019 ). Indeed, Sierra Nevada has experienced a decline in water resources during the last century (Jódar et al 2017 ), including changes in rainfall trends, with less rainy summers (Ruiz Sinoga et al 2011 ), dryer and longer autumns (Machado et al 2011 ), and shorter snow periods than 50 years ago (Bonet et al 2016 ).…”

Impacts of climate change on tropical agroforestry systems: A systematic review for identifying future research priorities

“…All six studies using an interdisciplinary approach yielded LoE3 strength evidence. The negative impacts in these studies were mainly analyzed and presented through descriptive summarizes of survey data collected in Indonesia (Boissière et al, 2013), Nigeria (Agwu et al, 2018) and Ecuadorian highlands (Córdova et al, 2019). Biophysical impacts identified by these studies included adverse effects on crop yields, fruit production, fodder production, soil moisture, water quality and quantity and biodiversity, whilst the livelihood consequences involved negative effects on livestock, household income, cultural values, health, and the displacement of farmers from increasing temperatures, drought, and declines in annual rainfall.…”

Perspectiva de ‘bem-estar único’ em sistemas agroflorestais - Uma análise bibliométrica

“…Sistemas agroflorestais têm sido empregados como estratégias para atender a produção de alimentos, geração de energia e uso da terra de forma mais sustentável (GEORGE et al, 2012). A combinação de atividades agrícolas, pecuárias e/ou florestais é traduzida em maior retorno econômico, impactos positivos em condições edáficas, microclimáticas e favorecimento ao sequestro anual de carbono (MBOW et al, 2014;ZOMER et al, 2016;TORRES et al, 2017;CÓRDOVA et al, 2019).…”