The physical dimension of climate change tends to be addressed by accurate statistics and modeling. However, it remains challenging to delve into its social dimension because climate change is generally perceived abstractly, being difficult to discern changes as they occur. Furthermore, climate change observations are spaced over time, and individual and collective memory of past events can be faulty or uncertain, distinguishing between knowing facts (semantic) versus reliving events or experiences (episodic). Over the past decades social and behavioral sciences have investigated the influence of the personal experience of climate change to understand how it affects adaptive capacity, that is, the ability to moderate impacts and cope with their consequences. As farmers develop their activity supporting the complexity of interrelated nature and human systems characterized by biophysical conditions and socioeconomic transformations, they are in a favorable position to provide first-hand observations of climate change manifestation, relevance, effects, and to indicate possible actions. Extensive research has been carried out to deepen farmers’ awareness, perceived impacts, and associated adaptive capacity. However, less attention was paid to irrigation consortia’s experiences, even their relevance in water and farming systems management and climate change adaptation policy. This proposal follows a triple focus on climate change awareness, perceived impacts, and adaptation measures and barriers, combining farmers and irrigation consortia portfolios. We surveyed 460 farmers and 13 consortia in northern Italy to compare both narratives while clustering their profiles, identifying common patterns and driving factors influencing adaptive capacity, and testing local and regional adaptation policies. A better understanding of farmers’ and consortia’s perspectives is indeed fundamental to reinforcing policy making and promoting accurate actions as it allows (i) focusing on the specific behaviors to be changed, (ii) examining the driving factors motivating those behaviors, (iii) defining and applying different interventions, and (iv) systematically evaluating the effects of these interventions on the resulting behaviors.

Combining farmers and irrigation consortia’s perspectives on climate change to reduce risk aversion and reinforce policy making at the regional scale

Castelletti A.;
2022-01-01

Abstract

The physical dimension of climate change tends to be addressed by accurate statistics and modeling. However, it remains challenging to delve into its social dimension because climate change is generally perceived abstractly, being difficult to discern changes as they occur. Furthermore, climate change observations are spaced over time, and individual and collective memory of past events can be faulty or uncertain, distinguishing between knowing facts (semantic) versus reliving events or experiences (episodic). Over the past decades social and behavioral sciences have investigated the influence of the personal experience of climate change to understand how it affects adaptive capacity, that is, the ability to moderate impacts and cope with their consequences. As farmers develop their activity supporting the complexity of interrelated nature and human systems characterized by biophysical conditions and socioeconomic transformations, they are in a favorable position to provide first-hand observations of climate change manifestation, relevance, effects, and to indicate possible actions. Extensive research has been carried out to deepen farmers’ awareness, perceived impacts, and associated adaptive capacity. However, less attention was paid to irrigation consortia’s experiences, even their relevance in water and farming systems management and climate change adaptation policy. This proposal follows a triple focus on climate change awareness, perceived impacts, and adaptation measures and barriers, combining farmers and irrigation consortia portfolios. We surveyed 460 farmers and 13 consortia in northern Italy to compare both narratives while clustering their profiles, identifying common patterns and driving factors influencing adaptive capacity, and testing local and regional adaptation policies. A better understanding of farmers’ and consortia’s perspectives is indeed fundamental to reinforcing policy making and promoting accurate actions as it allows (i) focusing on the specific behaviors to be changed, (ii) examining the driving factors motivating those behaviors, (iii) defining and applying different interventions, and (iv) systematically evaluating the effects of these interventions on the resulting behaviors.
2022
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1226614
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