The Roles of Farmers and Other Actors in Developing Adaptation Strategies to Climate Change and Variability

A special issue of Climate (ISSN 2225-1154).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2019) | Viewed by 13694

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Interests: the adaptation of human activities to climatic change, especially agriculture; sustainable community development; rural development; land use planning; strategic management/planning of development including agriculture; community participation; the dynamics and planning of urban agriculture; including pioneer work on adaptation behavior under stressful conditions; sustainable transport policies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change and variability (CCV) is broadly accepted as a reality. A major activity that is affected by CCV is agriculture, in different ways in different countries and territories. How does agriculture cope with CCV? Who can be involved in influencing the decisions taken by farmers? In this Special Issue, the first focus is on farmers individually and in groups. However, it is also important to understand the potential and actual roles of other actors, e.g. different levels of government. Some adaptation strategies to CCV can be put in place by individual farmers, but depending on the culture in a specific territory, different groups of farmers can also reflect on strategies that require the support of other actors, e.g. local and regional governments and organizations related to water management. This Special Issue is interested in research into farmer adaptation to CCV, as well as the involvement of different levels of government and other actors and, in some jurisdictions, the roles of effective crop insurance programs that do not lead to maladaptation on the part of farmers.

Prof. Dr. Christopher Bryant
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Climate is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agricultural adaptation to CCV
  • climate change
  • farmers
  • government roles
  • crop insurance programs

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 1927 KiB  
Article
Indigenous Knowledge and Farmer Perceptions of Climate and Ecological Changes in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon: Insights from the Bui Plateau
by Suiven John Paul Tume, Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi and Zephania Nji Fogwe
Climate 2019, 7(12), 138; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7120138 - 8 Dec 2019
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 7526
Abstract
Anticipating seasonal and shorter time scale dynamics to farming practices is primordial for indigenous farmers’ resilience under extreme environmental conditions, where climate change is a menace to agro-hydro-ecological systems. This paper assesses the effectiveness of indigenous farmers’ knowledge and aptitude to read weather [...] Read more.
Anticipating seasonal and shorter time scale dynamics to farming practices is primordial for indigenous farmers’ resilience under extreme environmental conditions, where climate change is a menace to agro-hydro-ecological systems. This paper assesses the effectiveness of indigenous farmers’ knowledge and aptitude to read weather signs for informed decisions on their daily and seasonal activities. Such climate-proof development is anchored on indigenous people’s knowledge and perceptions in circumstances where the dearth of scientific evidence or information exists as in Cameroon. The study is based on eight focus group discussions and a survey of 597 farming households in seven agro-ecological basins on the Bui Plateau of the Bamenda Highlands. The results indicate that indigenous smallholder farmers value their ability to accurately observe and anticipate local conditions in various ways to serve their local realities more aptly than outside forecasts. Such local knowledge should thus exercise a complementary role weave in a local climate information understanding system that replicates ecological variability. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 2697 KiB  
Article
Do Farmers Perceive the Trends of Local Climate Variability Accurately? An Analysis of Farmers’ Perceptions and Meteorological Data in Myanmar
by Yarzar Hein, Kampanat Vijitsrikamol, Witsanu Attavanich and Penporn Janekarnkij
Climate 2019, 7(5), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli7050064 - 5 May 2019
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5196
Abstract
With the existing state of issues related to global climate change, the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate is critically important if they plan to implement appropriate adaptation measures in their farming. This article evaluated if farmers perceive the trends of local climate [...] Read more.
With the existing state of issues related to global climate change, the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate is critically important if they plan to implement appropriate adaptation measures in their farming. This article evaluated if farmers perceive the trends of local climate variability accurately, and was verified by the historical meteorological data analysis. Ordered probit perception models were applied in this study to determine the factors influencing the accuracy of farmer perception. It was observed that farmers’ perceptions of the rainfall amount during the early, mid, and late monsoon periods were highly accurate, and they also accurately perceived summer temperature change, but less accuracy of perception was observed of the temperate changes of the winter and monsoon seasons. Access to weekly weather information, participation in agricultural trainings, farming experience, and education level of the farmer were the major factors determining the accuracy of perception in this study. Based on the empirical results, this study suggested policy implications for (a) the locally specified weather information distribution, and (b) integration of weather information into agricultural training programs, which are available to the farming community to enhance the government implantation of the Myanmar Climate Smart Agriculture Strategy and Myanmar Climate Change Master Plan 2018–2030. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop