Food Systems Graduate Program, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America.
Gund Institute for the Environment, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 27;16(1):e0244512. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244512. eCollection 2021.
Understanding how perceptions around motivation, capacity, and climate change's impacts relate to the adoption of adaptation practices in light of experiences with extreme weather events is important in assessing farmers' adaptive capacity. However, very little of this work has occurred in islands, which may have different vulnerabilities and capacities for adaptation. Data of surveyed farmers throughout Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria (n = 405, 87% response rate) were used in a structural equation model to explore the extent to which their adoption of agricultural practices and management strategies was driven by perceptions of motivation, vulnerability, and capacity as a function of their psychological distance of climate change. Our results show that half of farmers did not adopt any practice or strategy, even though the majority perceived themselves capable and motivated to adapt to climate change, and understood their farms to be vulnerable to future extreme events. Furthermore, adoption was neither linked to these adaptation perceptions, nor to their psychological distance of climate change, which we found to be both near and far. Puerto Rican farmers' showed a broad awareness of climate change's impacts both locally and globally in different dimensions (temporal, spatial, and social), and climate distance was not linked to reported damages from Hurricane Maria or to previous extreme weather events. These results suggest that we may be reaching a tipping point for extreme events as a driver for climate belief and action, especially in places where there is a high level of climate change awareness and continued experience of compounded impacts. Further, high perceived capacity and motivation are not linked to actual adaptation behaviors, suggesting that broadening adaptation analyses beyond individual perceptions and capacities as drivers of climate adaptation may give us a better understanding of the determinants to strengthen farmers' adaptive capacity.
了解动机、能力和气候变化影响认知如何与适应实践的采用相关，这对于评估农民的适应能力很重要。然而，在评估农民适应能力时，很少有研究关注到岛屿，因为岛屿可能具有不同的脆弱性和适应能力。在波多黎各飓风玛丽亚之后，对 405 名农民（87%的回复率）进行了调查，利用结构方程模型来探讨他们对农业实践和管理策略的采用程度，这些实践和管理策略是由他们对气候变化的心理距离所决定的动机、脆弱性和能力认知驱动的。我们的研究结果表明，尽管大多数农民认为自己有能力并有动机适应气候变化，并且理解自己的农场容易受到未来极端事件的影响，但仍有一半的农民没有采用任何实践或策略。此外，采用这些适应认知，以及他们对气候变化的心理距离，都与他们的适应行为无关，我们发现他们对气候变化的心理距离既近又远。波多黎各农民在不同维度（时间、空间和社会）对气候变化的影响具有广泛的认识，无论是在当地还是在全球，并且气候距离与玛丽亚飓风造成的报告损失或以前的极端天气事件无关。这些结果表明，我们可能正处于极端事件成为气候信仰和行动的驱动因素的临界点，特别是在那些对气候变化的认识水平较高且持续受到复合影响的地方。此外，高感知能力和动机与实际适应行为无关，这表明将适应分析扩展到个人认知和能力作为气候适应的驱动因素之外，可能会使我们更好地理解增强农民适应能力的决定因素。
