Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change最新文献

Sustainable agricultural practices have been extensively used to reduce water pollution; however, the effectiveness of these practices may be significantly affected by climate change. In this study, we assess the effectiveness of sustainable agricultural practices in reducing sediment and nutrient export to rivers under future climate conditions, using the Soil & Water Assessment Tool in a Portuguese river basin exposed to high levels of agricultural pollution. In our study, filter strips demonstrated a significant mitigation effect on sediment and nutrient increases under simulated climate change conditions, with maximum sediment export depletion reaching 65% and the highest nutrient export depletion observed at 35%. The implementation of multiple sustainable practices resulted in the highest depletions, with a notable 71% depletion in sediment export and a 35% depletion in nutrient export. Additionally, our research underscores the crucial role of filter strips and multiple sustainable agricultural practices in mitigating the projected rise in nutrient concentrations during summer, given the effect of climate change on river discharge. Further studies exploring sustainable agricultural practices across different climates and watersheds can improve our understanding of their effectiveness for adaptation to climate change.

The need to combat climate change and its devastating impacts while simultaneously addressing the urgent need to achieve zero hunger and no poverty as well as promoting good health and well-being makes transforming Africa’s smallholder agriculture towards greater sustainability an urgent necessity. This study examines the influence of the agricultural practices with climate-smart agriculture potentials (AP-CSAPs) on labour (and other production factors’) demand and input substitution. The study was based on primary data collected in a cross-section survey, in which 1500 smallholder rice farmers were drawn by a multistage random sampling across farming communities, local government areas, and states in Nigeria. The econometric data analysis was within the framework of Zellner’s Seemingly Unrelated Regression method in estimating parameters of a set of factor share equations. The study found that labour and fertilizer could not be readily substituted in Nigeria; hence, an increase in the unit price of labour and fertilizer results in a higher share of labour and fertilizer in the budget. In terms of the effects of AP-CSAP use on factor cost share, most of the AP-CSAPs are labour-intensive with the exception of agroforestry. Similarly, the use of organic manure and residue retention is significantly pesticide saving while zero/minimum tillage use is pesticide and fertilizer using. Given that most AP-CSAPs require higher labour requirements, their success is often impeded by labour shortages. Some of the policies to promote AP-CSAPs include creating incentives in the form of higher wages and/or compensation to bring people back to agriculture. Accessibility and availability of key inputs such as improved crop variety and seed of green manure and/or cover crops, and leveraging on community-driven development approach to provide labour-saving equipment to rice farmers, may boost the adoption of labour-using AP-CSAPs in Nigeria.

Climate change threatens the livelihoods of Sub-Saharan African farmers through increased droughts. Livestock donation programs offer a potential solution, but their effectiveness under climate stress remains unclear. This study assesses the economic viability of integrating climate-smart technologies (cowsheds and biogas plants) into these programs in Rwanda. Using a stochastic benefit–cost analysis from the beneficiary perspective, we evaluate the net gains for households receiving heifers compared to the current program. Our findings reveal that integrating climate-smart technologies significantly enhances economic viability. Households with cows and climate-smart technologies can possibly realise net benefits 3.5 times higher than the current program, with benefit–cost ratios reaching 5:1. Beyond economic benefits, adopting biogas reduces deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and respiratory illness risks. This study demonstrates that integrating climate-smart technologies into livestock donation programs can generate positive economic, environmental, and health benefits, leading to more resilient and sustainable smallholder systems. However, overcoming implementation challenges requires tailored policy packages addressing local barriers.

The groundwater irrigation of high water requiring crops has started imposing negative impacts on environment in terms of increased energy requirement and depletion of green agriculture. Thus, shifting from gravity-fed (surface) irrigation to drip irrigation is a possible way of saving a substantial amount of water in relation to decreased groundwater pumping. Keeping this in view, the present study compared the change in crop water demand, energy consumption and CO₂ emission by shifting from gravity-fed/surface irrigation to drip irrigation. In the future, the potential area that can be brought under drip irrigation in the state would be about 26 times higher than that being irrigated using pressured irrigation at present. With the adoption of drip irrigation in groundwater irrigated areas, the crop water demand, energy consumption and CO₂ emission can be reduced by about 35–42%, 23–31%, and 23–31%, respectively, with water application efficiencies of 85 to 95%. In canal irrigated areas, if drip irrigation is adopted over gravity-fed irrigation, up to 32–39% water demand can be reduced, whereas the energy consumption and CO₂ emission would increase. Until, unless, water saving is not an issue in canal irrigated areas, gravity-fed irrigation methods may be adopted. Whereas in areas dominated with groundwater irrigation, pressurized irrigation methods particularly the drip system should be essentially adopted.

Agriculture and weather are intrinsically linked. Variations in the weather patterns due to climate change pose a foremost risk to agricultural production and food security. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) propagates adaptation to tackle the irreversible climate change impact and its associated risks. The Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change in 2010 gave the concept of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as an adaptation measure to enhance food security by raising productivity, developing resilience systems to adjust to climate change, and dropping GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions. This study systematically reviews the literature using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) to understand the different practices followed by the farmers and the factors that determine the CSA adaptation. Most importantly, it examines the role of extension services in adaptation. The results show that the adapted practices among the different study areas can be broadly categorised into resilient technologies, conservation technologies, management technologies, diversification of income security, and risk mitigation strategies. The paper finds that the CSA adaption achieves the intended benefits with possible trade-offs and is determined through the socio-economic, institutional, behavioural factors and the land’s physical characteristics. The critical evaluation of different extension systems exhibits the importance of varying field schools to promote the CSAPs. The study also emphasises developing networks among the different stakeholders, particularly between formal extension and informal extensions such as NGOs (non-governmental organisations), farmer groups, and private players, and the inclusion of ICTs (information and communication technologies) for the holistic extension systems and effective delivery to the farmers’ CSA adaptation.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has mentioned that coastal areas would be the worst sufferers of climate change-induced variabilities and extremes, severely affecting the farming community, particularly in developing countries. Farmers are developing different field-based and livelihood-based adaptive mechanisms depending on several socio-economic, institutional and locational factors. Previous studies were concentrated on agriculture and its adaptation strategies against climate change, but considering coastal agriculture in the context of climate variability is largely unexplored. This study aims to find controlling factors of coping mechanisms against climate variability for coastal agriculture on the east coast of India. A questionnaire survey and focused group discussion have been conducted to collect and validate farmers’ perceptions of climate variability. The study has applied a binary logit model and established that socio-economic farming system attributes and locational factors influence farmers’ decision to adopt farm-level and livelihood adaptations. Most farmers (> 80%) have perceived that rainfall variability has increased, which is a major issue for agriculture in this area. The logistic regression models successfully predicted nearly 70% of the variables in each model. The model indicated that variables like experience, education, land ownership, involvement with marine fishing and distance from the coast influenced adaptation mechanisms against climate variability. The findings of the study have underlined the factors that need more attention for better management of coastal agriculture in the context of climate variability and can help to formulate better climate adaptation policies in the coastal areas of India and areas with similar backgrounds.

The influence of social networks on the adoption decision for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies and the relative effects of different network types remain controversial. To verify those claims, a three-level meta-analysis including 26 empirical studies and 150 effect sizes was conducted in this study. The results indicate a valid, modest yet positive correlation (0.065) between social networks and smallholders’ CSA technology adoption decisions, with no publication bias in this field. The subsequent heterogeneity test and subgroup analysis show that social network type is the main factor causing significant variation in effect sizes, with friendship and kinship networks having the greatest impact. In addition, various robustness tests were performed to verify the correctness of the model setting and moderator chosen and the stability of the heterogeneity test results. In conclusion, this study testifies to the efficacy of social networks’ roles raised by the diffusion of innovation theory. Policy implications lie in the extension of CSA technologies, which should be more ambitious, and more attention could be paid to the kinship and friendship networks.

Although policy and advisory communities have promoted the use of digital advisory services (DAS) to stimulate technology adoption among smallholder farmers, little is known about whether DAS use encourages farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural (CSA) technologies. This study addresses the gap by estimating data collected from 3197 maize-producing households in rural Ghana and considering three CSA technologies: row planting, zero tillage, and drought-tolerant seeds. A recursive bivariate probit model is utilized to mitigate selection bias issues. The results show that DAS use significantly increases the probabilities of adopting row planting, zero tillage, and drought-tolerant seeds by 12.4%, 4.2%, and 4.6%, respectively. Maize farmers’ decisions to use DAS are influenced by their age, gender, education, family size, asset value, distance to farm, perceived incidence of pest and disease, perceived drought stress, and membership in farmer-based organizations (FBO). Furthermore, the disaggregated analysis reveals that DAS use has a larger impact on the row planting adoption of female farmers than males.

The systematic review using the PRISMA protocol aims to identify the observed and projected impacts of climate change on crop production and food security, water resources, and livestock and explores the perspectives of adaptation strategies employed to cope with this challenge across African countries. The review permits visualization in one scheme of the most recent various results of ongoing climate impact on agriculture and strategies across African countries. It enables the agricultural community and policymakers to consider it as they address climate change risks to agriculture, livestock, water resources, as well as food security. Overall results from 125 selected articles show that in the last four years, there has been a lack of research on climate change-related issues analysis in agriculture in some countries, especially in Northern Africa, Middle Africa, and Southern Africa. In the same regions, studies on the impact analysis on livestock, water, and management techniques are limited. Even though the agriculture sector is severely impacted by climate change, the effects can still be positive or negative depending on the products cultivated and the region. The various adaptation strategies implemented seem to be more effective when applied as a combination than a single application. However, some challenges including the lack of knowledge, limited input access, insufficient equipment, and financial constraints in strategy adoption exist. As climate change is a persisting and continuing fact getting worse over time, the adaptation strategies implemented today may require further improvement. Thus, our study suggests that more research should be done in this area to facilitate continuous improvement. Women’s leadership is important in the adoption of sustainable adaptation strategies. The introduction of gender factors in the assessment of the effectiveness of climate change adaptation strategies and food security components is recommended. Also, serious research should be carried out to define the most impactful adaptation strategies according to the important staple growing crops by region to cope with climate change impacts in the African food system.

Abstract

Social-ecological resilience is not easy to understand in relation to definition and importance. Fisher folks are usually not getting recognition and importance by policymakers as well as nation. They faced several problems, and eventually, they are living with disasters. Fishers’ social-ecological resilience depends on various factors in responding to coastal disasters including their diverse capacities and skills on innovations, social capitals, network linkages, sharing, social regulations, hazard impacts, and economic instruments with the persuasion and available options for adaptation. The poor fishers often settle in the risky areas after immediate disasters for a bundle of benefits and opportunities in the risky areas. What happens with the social-ecological knowledge and resilience in relation to context and time? Local knowledge helps become resilient. Declined social bondage, norms, minimal innovations, and low level of local knowledge integration make the fisher community vulnerable and less resilient. Comparatively, the asset-less and poor communities are the most vulnerable to coastal disasters. The shared communities stand in a better position in responding to hazards and are more resilient. The blended knowledge of proven technology and locally available practices may be an effective strategy for coastal disasters’ management. The processing technologies for diverse processed food derived from fishes and other aquatic resources are essentially important for diversified livelihood opportunities in the coastal areas to combat disasters. The proposed model and approaches will contribute to the fisher communities becoming more resilient to coastal disasters.