Institute for Sustainable Economic Development, Department of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Feistmantelstrasse 4, 1180, Vienna, Austria.
Environ Manage. 2019 Jun;63(6):804-821. doi: 10.1007/s00267-019-01158-7. Epub 2019 Apr 16.
The lack of timely adaptation in agriculture may hamper prosperous farm developments by neglecting risks and opportunities emerging from climate change. Understanding farmers' perceptual and socio-cognitive processes is key in order to encourage on-farm adaptation. We aim at investigating how farmers' individual cognition on climate change and adaptation as well as socio-environmental context factors affect agricultural adaptation intention and avoidance. We build on the Model of Private Proactive Adaptation to Climate Change (MPPACC) and apply a qualitative interview approach in two Austrian farming regions. Twenty semi-structured interviews have been conducted with 29 farmers. Based on the results of the qualitative content analysis, we have identified four groups of farmers, which differ in the formation process of adaptation intention and avoidance: (i) climate change adaptors, (ii) integrative adaptors, (iii) cost-benefit calculators, and (iv) climate change fatalists. Farmers who are part of groups (i)-(iii) form adaptation intentions, whereas climate change fatalists do not intend to adapt. According to our analysis, adaptation intentions are only formed if farmers are aware of effective adaptation measures, accept personal responsibility for their farms, and evaluate adaptation costs positively (i.e. adaptation appraisal). Farmers' climate change appraisal as well as farm and regional characteristics are also perceived relevant for farmers' adaptation decisions but seem to be less important than adaptation appraisal. Therefore, we conclude that engagement strategies and outreach efforts need not only address risks and opportunities, but should also strengthen farmers' self-responsibility and offer adaptation measures tailored to the regional characteristics and the farmers' needs.
农业缺乏及时的适应可能会忽视气候变化带来的风险和机遇，从而阻碍繁荣的农场发展。为了鼓励农场适应，了解农民的感知和社会认知过程是关键。我们旨在研究农民对气候变化和适应的个体认知以及社会环境因素如何影响农业适应意图和回避。我们基于《气候变化私人主动适应模型》（MPPACC），并在奥地利的两个农业区采用定性访谈方法。我们对 29 名农民进行了 20 次半结构化访谈。根据定性内容分析的结果，我们确定了四个不同的农民群体，它们在适应意图和回避的形成过程上有所不同：（i）气候变化适应者，（ii）综合适应者，（iii）成本效益计算器，和（iv）气候变化宿命论者。属于群体（i）-（iii）的农民形成适应意图，而气候变化宿命论者则不打算适应。根据我们的分析，如果农民意识到有效的适应措施，对自己的农场承担个人责任，并积极评估适应成本（即适应评估），那么他们才会形成适应意图。农民对气候变化的评估以及农场和地区的特点也被认为与农民的适应决策有关，但似乎不如适应评估重要。因此，我们得出结论，参与策略和外展工作不仅需要解决风险和机遇，还应该加强农民的自我责任感，并提供适合地区特点和农民需求的适应措施。
