Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change
Support for rural livelihoods to adapt to climate change is a top policy priority around the world. We advance the concept of ‘self-organized adaptation’ to analyze how long-term pathways of transformation come about as the organic outcome of farmers’ incremental and continuous responses to climate...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac22bf |
| _version_ | 1797747528012136448 |
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| author | Harry W Fischer Ashwini Chhatre Sripad Devalkar Milind Sohoni |
| author_facet | Harry W Fischer Ashwini Chhatre Sripad Devalkar Milind Sohoni |
| author_sort | Harry W Fischer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Support for rural livelihoods to adapt to climate change is a top policy priority around the world. We advance the concept of ‘self-organized adaptation’ to analyze how long-term pathways of transformation come about as the organic outcome of farmers’ incremental and continuous responses to climate and other challenges. Through an analysis of four decades’ responses to changing climate conditions in an agricultural system of the Indian Himalayas, we show how several key policy interventions—institutional support for the dissemination of agricultural knowledge, investments in infrastructure, and strengthening of market linkages—have produced favorable conditions for successful, long-term self-organized adaptation to climate change. This has led to the transformation of an agricultural system specialized in apple production to one with a great diversity of fruit, vegetable, and food grain crops. We find that farmers growing these crops cluster into five distinct agricultural portfolios that reflect the constraints and opportunities that different farmers face, and which are patterned by interaction with rural institutions and household social networks. We highlight the role of distributed decision-making in shaping broader trajectories of systemic transformation, and we argue for the need to move beyond pre-defined climate interventions toward the identification of policy mechanisms that can support more effective self-organization over the long-term. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6c9e27a0107b42b5bfc07a69236a50a2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:51Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-6c9e27a0107b42b5bfc07a69236a50a22023-08-09T15:06:25ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-01161010400210.1088/1748-9326/ac22bfRural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate changeHarry W Fischer0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7967-1154Ashwini Chhatre1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5374-7867Sripad Devalkar2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3708-9104Milind Sohoni3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0510-7109Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences , P.O. Box 7012, SE-750 07 Uppsala, SwedenIndian School of Business , Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana 500 111, IndiaIndian School of Business , Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana 500 111, IndiaIndian School of Business , Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana 500 111, IndiaSupport for rural livelihoods to adapt to climate change is a top policy priority around the world. We advance the concept of ‘self-organized adaptation’ to analyze how long-term pathways of transformation come about as the organic outcome of farmers’ incremental and continuous responses to climate and other challenges. Through an analysis of four decades’ responses to changing climate conditions in an agricultural system of the Indian Himalayas, we show how several key policy interventions—institutional support for the dissemination of agricultural knowledge, investments in infrastructure, and strengthening of market linkages—have produced favorable conditions for successful, long-term self-organized adaptation to climate change. This has led to the transformation of an agricultural system specialized in apple production to one with a great diversity of fruit, vegetable, and food grain crops. We find that farmers growing these crops cluster into five distinct agricultural portfolios that reflect the constraints and opportunities that different farmers face, and which are patterned by interaction with rural institutions and household social networks. We highlight the role of distributed decision-making in shaping broader trajectories of systemic transformation, and we argue for the need to move beyond pre-defined climate interventions toward the identification of policy mechanisms that can support more effective self-organization over the long-term.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac22bfclimate adaptationrural livelihoodssocial networksrural institutionsdevelopment |
| spellingShingle | Harry W Fischer Ashwini Chhatre Sripad Devalkar Milind Sohoni Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change Environmental Research Letters climate adaptation rural livelihoods social networks rural institutions development |
| title | Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change |
| title_full | Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change |
| title_fullStr | Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change |
| title_short | Rural institutions, social networks, and self-organized adaptation to climate change |
| title_sort | rural institutions social networks and self organized adaptation to climate change |
| topic | climate adaptation rural livelihoods social networks rural institutions development |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac22bf |
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