scholarly journals Evidence of Climate Change Coping and Adaptation Practices by Smallholder Farmers in Northern Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1308
Author(s):  
Philip Antwi-Agyei ◽  
Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Northern Ghana ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variations ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Adaptation Practices

Evidence on how coping practices for immediate climate variations can transform into long-term adaptive capacity are relatively limited. This study addressed this gap by identifying the coping practices for short-term climate variations and the adaptation measures used by smallholder farmers to address future climate change in northeast Ghana. The paper used a mixed-methods approach, including household surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Data were collected from 555 households located in six communities across three districts in northeast Ghana. Results indicated that smallholder farmers were employing a host of practices to address the threats posed by climate change. Key adaptation practices included the planting of drought-tolerant crop varieties, the use of indigenous knowledge, intensification of irrigation, migration, adjusting the planting calendar, crop diversification, mixed farming, and sustainable land management practices. On the contrary, short-term coping practices reported by the study participants included the sale of non-farm assets, complementing agriculture with non-farm jobs, selling livestock, engaging in wage labor, charcoal burning and reliance on social networks. The results further revealed that barriers to climate change adaptation and coping practices differed by gender. The paper recommends that capacities of smallholder farmers in vulnerability hotspots should be enhanced to address immediate climate variations, as well as future climate changes. Ghana’s climate change and agricultural policies should prioritize adaptations by smallholder farmers in addressing threats posed by climate change.

The challenges and opportunities for wheat production under future climate in Northern Ethiopia

2016 ◽  
Vol 155 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. ARAYA ◽  
I. KISEKKA ◽  
A. GIRMA ◽  
K. M. HADGU ◽  
F. N. TEGEBU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Model Calibration ◽  
Wheat Yield ◽  
Planting Date ◽  
N Fertilizer ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Northern Ethiopia ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Adaptation Practices ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

SUMMARYWheat is an important crop in the highlands of Northern Ethiopia and climate change is expected to be a major threat to wheat productivity. However, the potential impacts of climate change and adaptation on wheat yield has not been documented for this region. Wheat field experiments were carried out during the 2011–2013 cropping seasons in Northern Ethiopia to: (1) calibrate and evaluate Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM)-wheat model for exploring the impacts of climate change and adaptation on wheat yield; (2) explore the response of wheat cultivar/s to possible change in climate and carbon dioxide (CO2) under optimal and sub-optimal fertilizer application and (3) assess the impact of climate change and adaptation practices on wheat yield based on integration of surveyed field data with climate simulations using multi-global climate models (GCMs; for short- and mid-term periods) for the Hintalo-Wajrat areas of Northern Ethiopia. The treatments were two levels of fertilizer (optimal and zero fertilization); treatments were replicated three times and arranged in a randomized complete block design. All required information for model calibration and evaluation were gathered from experimental studies. In addition, a household survey was conducted in 2012 in Northern Ethiopia. Following model calibration and performance testing, response of wheat to various nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates, planting date, temperature and combinations of other climate variables and CO2 were assessed. Crop simulations were conducted with future climate scenarios using 20 different GCMs and compared with a baseline. In addition, simulations were carried out using climate data from five different GCM with and without climate change adaptation practices. The simulated yield showed clear responses to changes in temperature, N fertilizer and CO2. Regardless of choice of cultivar, increasing temperatures alone (by up to 5 °C compared with the baseline) resulted in reduced yield while the addition of other factors (optimal fertilizer with elevated CO2) resulted in increased yield. Considering optimal fertilizer (64 kg/ha N) as an adaptation practice, wheat yield in the short-term (2010–2039) and mid-term (2040–2069) may increase at least by 40%, compared with sub-optimal N levels. Assuming CO2 and present wheat management is unchanged, simulation results based on 20 GCMs showed that median wheat yields will reduce by 10% in the short term and by 11% in the mid-term relative to the baseline data, whereas under changed CO2 with present management, wheat yield will increase slightly, by up to 8% in the short term and by up to 11% in the mid-term period, respectively. Wheat yield will substantially increase, by more than 100%, when simulated based on combined use of optimal planting date and fertilizer applications. Increased temperature in future scenarios will cause yield to decline, whereas CO2 is expected to have positive impacts on wheat yield.

scholarly journals Coping with and Adapting to Climate Change: A Gender Perspective from Smallholder Farming in Ghana

Environments ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsie Assan ◽  
Murari Suvedi ◽  
Laura Schmitt Olabisi ◽  
Andrea Allen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Farm Households ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Savings And Loans ◽  
Adaptation Capacity ◽  
Adaptation Practices

The negative impacts of climate change on agriculture could erode gains made toward gender equality in Ghana. Much of the literature on gender dimensions of climate change adaptation has focused on assessing differences in coping and adaptation practices of smallholder farmers. Mostly overlooked is whether gender influences influenced perception of effectiveness of adaptation practices and preferences for institutional support for future adaptation. Using key informant interviews, household surveys, and focus group discussions, we address these gaps by exploring coping and adaptation measures adopted by heads of farm households to counter climate change impacts on their livelihood activities and household well-being in the Guinea Savanna agroecological zone in Ghana. Additionally, we assessed the preferred institutional adaptation support of heads of farm households in adapting to future projected impacts. We find that female heads of farm households relied mainly on borrowed money from village savings and loans group as a coping measure; male heads of farm households depended primarily on sales of livestock. Varying planting and harvesting dates, crop diversification, and use of improved crop varieties were the major adaptation strategies adopted by farmers. We argue that provision of dams and/or dugouts, postharvest processing facilities, adaptation capacity-building resources, and improved access to markets and credit could enhance the adaptive capacity of male and female heads of farm households to mitigate projected climate change impacts on their livelihood activities and household well-being.

Climate change and its impact on tea in Northeast India

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rishiraj Dutta
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Northeast India ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Monthly Precipitation ◽  
Productivity Analysis ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Tea Production ◽  
Production Period

The analysis of this study focused on the tea growing areas of Northeast India to provide predictions for future climate scenarios and its impact on tea production by 2050. The applied methodology involves a combination of current climate data with future climate change predictions from different models for 2050 as derived by WorldClim and IPCC4 (CIAT recommended). The results showed the possibility of an increase in average temperature by 2 °C in 2050, while not much variation is observed in the rainfall pattern. A change in tea production period is also expected by 2050 making tea planters look for alternative crops as an adaptive measure to keep the industry on its feet. With such expected impacts on tea production, the planters would need to make changes in their management practices to adapt to the evolving conditions and environment. In this study, the climate data were used as input to DIVA GIS Model. Monthly climate data were fed into Cranfield University Plantation Productivity Analysis for Tea Model (CUPPA Tea Model) to simulate observed and predicted yields. The study further shows that the overall climate will become less seasonal in terms of variation through the years followed by expected variations in monthly precipitation during the peak production months.

BioDiv-Support: scenario-based decision support tool for policy planning and adaptation to future challenges in biodiversity and ecosystem services 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Andersson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Human Impacts ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
The Impact

<p>Biodiversity includes any type of living variation, from the ecosystem level to genetic variation within organisms. The greatest threats to biodiversity is climate change, destruction of habitats and other human activities. High-altitude mountain regions are pristine environments, with historically small impacts from air pollution, but at risk of being disproportionately impacted by climate change. We focus on three mountainous regions: the Scandinavian Mountains, the Guadarrama Mountains in Spain, and the Pyrenees in France, Andorra and Spain. We study the impact of drivers of change of biodiversity such as future climate change, increased incidences of wild fires, emissions from new shipping routes in the Arctic as ice sheets are melting, human impacts on land use and management practices (such as reindeer grazing) and air pollution.</p><p>We simulate future climate change using WRF and a convective permitting climate model, HARMONIE-Climate, with a spatial resolution of 3km. The high resolution strongly improves the representation of precipitation compared to coarser scale simulations (Lind et al., 2020). We use these simulations to develop future scenarios of air pollution load, using two well established chemistry transport models (MATCH and CHIMERE; Marécal et al., 2015). These climate and air pollution scenarios are subsequently used, together with management scenarios, to develop scenarios for biodiversity and ecosystem services. These scenarios are developed applying a process-based dynamic vegetation and biogeochemistry model, LPJ-GUESS (Smith et al., 2014). </p><p>The scenarios, representing mid-21<sup>st</sup> century, will be made available through a web-based planning tool, where local stakeholders in each region can explore the project results to understand how scenarios of climate change, air pollution and policy development will affect these ecosystems. Local stakeholders are involved throughout the project, such as reindeer herder communities, regional county boards and national authorities, and in a time of changing climate and a global pandemic we have learned the necessity for flexibility in such interactions.</p><p> </p><p>References</p><p>Lind et al. 2020., Climate Dynamics 55, 1893-1912.</p><p>Marécal et al., 2015. Geosci. Mod. Dev. 8, 2777-2813.</p><p>Smith et al. 2014 Biogeosciences 11, 2027-2054.</p>

scholarly journals Opinions on strategies for forest adaptation to future climate conditions in western Canada: surveys of the general public and leaders of forest-dependent communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1525-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reem Hajjar ◽  
Erin McGuigan ◽  
Molly Moshofsky ◽  
Robert A. Kozak
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
General Public ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
The Face ◽  
Natural Range

Two province-wide surveys of residents in Alberta and British Columbia were conducted to assess the acceptability of a range of reforestation strategies — many of which revolve around biotechnology — that could be used to aid western Canada’s forests in adapting to future climate change. The opinions of leaders of forest-dependent communities were also sought to evaluate how well they align with those of the public at large. Results show that the views of the general public and community leaders correspond. There is a low acceptance for a “do-nothing” strategy that allows climate change to run its course without any human intervention; high acceptance of replanting with local seeds; a decreasing acceptance of strategies that involve more manipulation such as breeding, using nonlocal seeds, and moving seeds outside of a species’ natural range; and a low acceptance of genetically engineered solutions. However, a high proportion of respondents changed their answers when told that a particular strategy would lead to either favourable or unfavourable outcomes related to socioeconomics of forest-dependent communities, forest aesthetics, and pest, disease, and fire outbreaks. We conclude that a meaningful and participatory dialogue on forest adaptation strategies in the face of climate change can only emerge if residents and other interested stakeholders have an adequate understanding of current forest management practices, proposed reforestation strategies, the role of technological interventions, and the values and services for which western Canada’s forests are to be managed.

scholarly journals Modelling adaptation strategies to reduce adverse impacts of climate change on maize cropping system in Northeast China

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rong Jiang ◽  
Wentian He ◽  
Liang He ◽  
J. Y. Yang ◽  
B. Qian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
N Uptake ◽  
Maize Yield ◽  
Adaptation Strategies ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

AbstractMaize (Zea mays L.) production in Northeast China is vulnerable to climate change. Thus, exploring future adaptation measures for maize is crucial to developing sustainable agriculture to ensure food security. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the impacts of climate change on maize yield and partial factor productivity of nitrogen (PFPN) and explore potential adaptation strategies in Northeast China. The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) model was calibrated and validated using the measurements from nine maize experiments. DSSAT performed well in simulating maize yield, biomass and N uptake for both calibration and validation periods (normalized root mean square error (nRMSE) < 10%, −5% < normalized average relative error (nARE) < 5% and index of agreement (d) > 0.8). Compared to the baseline (1980–2010), the average maize yields and PFPN would decrease by 7.6–32.1% and 3.6–14.0 kg N kg−1 respectively under future climate scenarios (2041–2070 and 2071–2100) without adaptation. Optimizing N application rate and timing, establishing rotation system with legumes, adjusting planting dates and breeding long-season cultivars could be effective adaptation strategies to climate change. This study demonstrated that optimizing agronomic crop management practices would assist to make policy development on mitigating the negative impacts of future climate change on maize production.

Responses of Irish Vegetation to Future Climate Change

2006 ◽  
Vol 106 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Jones ◽  
Alison Donnelly ◽  
Fabrizio Albanito
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Future Climate Change
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