SHAPING CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: THE IMPACT OF FARMERS' PERCEPTIONS

Abstract

Climate change is affecting different areas of life. Especially agriculture is hit hard, since this field is highly dependent on weather and climatic conditions. To adapt to the outcomes of climate change, farmers engage in climate change adaptation measures. Perceptions of climate change are hypothesized to affect climate change adaptation. The exact impact is unknown. At the same time, farm characteristics, such as farm management style and farm size are expected to influence perceptions. Therefore, the main research question in this study is: How do farmers' perceptions of climate change influence farmer’s adoption of adaptation practices? Subquestions regard the characterization of the perceptions and the role farm and farmer characteristics play. The second sub-question goes into how farmers adopt to climate change and what measures they use. The third sub-question regards the link between perceptions and climate change adaptation. To gain an answer to this question, farmers were interviewed. The Schorfheide-Chorin biosphere reserve is an area in Germany with a high organic farming percentage, where the outcomes of climate change are largely negatively experienced. In this research, 13 interviews were conducted with farmers about their perceptions of climate change and climate change adaptation measures. 2 Experts were interviewed about climate change adaptation and what tools are available for farmers to adapt. It was found that while farm characteristics do not have a strong significant impact, perceptions of climate change among farmers varied with a few central themes, such as droughts and heavy rain. Most farmers have a broad perception of climate change and perceive many different outcomes. In response to this, farmers are adapting to the changing climate, with each farmer having adopted many different techniques. The most used techniques followed almost the same order as the most mentioned perceived outcomes of climate change. However, some challenges still stand in farmers’ way when wanting to adopt climate change adaptation strategies. This is mostly a disconnect between farmers and policy-makers, causing farmers to distrust some government institutions. A lack of subsidies causes economic troubles for farmers. However, despite the challenges, farmers prove themselves to be willing and able to adapt to climate change. Lastly, perceptions of climate change do influence climate change adaptation behaviour. Farmers that have the least complex perceptions, also tend to adopt the least adaptation techniques, while farmers with a more complex perception tend to adopt more techniques. This result was also found in studies done in other parts of the world, however, researchers are calling for more research to be performed on this subject. To narrow the gap between farmers and government, a more personal method of policy-making should be applied that is more tuned to the farmers’ unique conditions.