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Schröder LS, Bhalerao AK, Kabir KH, Scheffran J, Schneider UA. Managing uphill cultivation under climate change - An assessment of adaptation decisions among tribal farmers in Nagaland state of India. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2024; 349:119473. [PMID: 37939473 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 11/10/2023]
Abstract
Tribal farmers in the Himalayas are vulnerable to climatic changes, as their rain-fed cultivation systems, practiced on steep, sloping terrain, are susceptible to changes in rainfall while at the same time being the primary means of livelihood. Soil and water conservation practices (SWCP) can improve the resilience of these cultivation systems to adverse climatic conditions. However, little is known about adaptation within these tribal farming communities. This is the first empirical study on the adaptation decisions of tribal farmers in the Himalayan uplands of Northeast India. Starting from the analysis of future climate risks, we surveyed 372 tribal farmers in Nagaland state to analyze perceived climate and environmental changes in relation to socio-demographic factors. We estimate current adoption rates of SWCP together with farmers' goals and values and employ a binary logit model (BLM) to quantify the influence of diverse factors on adaptation decisions. Our results show that increases in temperatures and crop diseases were the most perceived changes by tribal farmers. Climate projections indicate that precipitation amount and intensity, along with temperatures, will increase towards the end of the century, underlining the importance of SWCP. However, all considered SWCP were employed by less than half of the tribal farmers. Adoption probabilities for all practices were significantly increased when farmers participated in agricultural training. After that, participation in a civil society organization, livestock ownership, high-altitude locations, and perceived increases in droughts were found to increase adoption probabilities significantly, while socio-demographic factors were of only minor importance. If the most effective factor was employed to all farmers, average adoption rates of SWCP could at least double. Adoption decisions were mainly motivated by improving livelihoods, sustaining natural resources, reducing workload, and preserving cultural aspects of cultivation. This research contributes to understanding adaptation decisions of tribal farmers and quantifies the untapped potential for climate change adaptation of marginalized and climate-vulnerable farming communities in mountain regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lea S Schröder
- Research Unit Sustainability and Climate Risks, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Grindelberg 5, 20144, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Amol K Bhalerao
- Training and Education Centre, Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Shivajinagar, Pune, 411 005, Maharashtra, India
| | - Khondokar H Kabir
- Research Unit Sustainability and Climate Risks, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Grindelberg 5, 20144, Hamburg, Germany; School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada; Department of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, 2202, Bangladesh
| | - Jürgen Scheffran
- Research Group Climate Change and Security, Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Grindelberg 5/7, 20144, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Uwe A Schneider
- Research Unit Sustainability and Climate Risks, Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN), University of Hamburg, Grindelberg 5, 20144, Hamburg, Germany
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Rawat N, Purohit S, Painuly V, Negi GS, Bisht MPS. Habitat distribution modeling of endangered medicinal plant Picrorhiza kurroa (Royle ex Benth) under climate change scenarios in Uttarakhand Himalaya, India. ECOL INFORM 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2021.101550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Pham NTT, Nong D, Garschagen M. Natural hazard's effect and farmers' perception: Perspectives from flash floods and landslides in remotely mountainous regions of Vietnam. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 759:142656. [PMID: 33059901 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2020] [Revised: 09/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Understanding perceptions of indigenous people toward natural disasters is essential in social and environmental research to facilitate further studies in investigating the impacts of the events, as well as in examining the adaptive strategies and having implications for policymakers and relevant institutional bodies. We took this essential feature to study the perceptions of local people toward the two common natural disasters: flash floods and landslides. We selected the case study in three communes (An Binh, An Thinh, and Dai Son) in Van Yen district, Yen Bai province in Vietnam. This is because flash floods and landslides are two frequent natural disasters that highly adversely affect these areas where major poor ethnic minority communities reside. We conducted six Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and household surveys (405 households) in 2016. The results showed that a decline in productivity, a decrease in income, more hard-working conditions, and an increase in daily expenses were the most observed impacts of these natural disasters in the communes. The analysis also revealed that almost 45% of farmers perceived an increasing trend in the frequency and impacts of flash floods and landslides over the past 15 years. A Multinomial Logit (MNL) model was used to analyze the determinants of farmers' awareness of flash floods and landslides, which indicated that farmers' perceptions of flash floods and landslides are associated with socio-economic characteristics, such as gender, agricultural experience, ethnic groups, climate information, and household income conditions. We suggested that local governments should pay more attention to strengthen farmers' awareness to help improve perceptions of local people toward common natural disasters so that they would gain better adaptive capacities and become more sustainable, which are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nga Thanh Thi Pham
- United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security, Germany; Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Viet Nam.
| | - Duy Nong
- Agriculture and Food, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia
| | - Matthias Garschagen
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Department of Geography, Germany
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