The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya
Climate change may create serious problems for farmers by increasing precipitation variability and drought and flood events. Understanding how to build livelihood resilience to these effects is a pressing need. Agroforestry is one potential solution. Although many people intuitively link agroforestr...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2017-09-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss3/art10/ |
| _version_ | 1830357832862531584 |
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| author | Amy Quandt Henry Neufeldt J. Terrence McCabe |
| author_facet | Amy Quandt Henry Neufeldt J. Terrence McCabe |
| author_sort | Amy Quandt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change may create serious problems for farmers by increasing precipitation variability and drought and flood events. Understanding how to build livelihood resilience to these effects is a pressing need. Agroforestry is one potential solution. Although many people intuitively link agroforestry with livelihood resilience to floods and drought, little comprehensive empirical evidence exists. Here, we strive to answer the call for more empirical evidence by drawing on field work in Isiolo County, Kenya to ask the research question: How does agroforestry help smallholder farmers build livelihood resilience to floods and drought? We used a mixed-methods approach that included 20 qualitative case study households and 338 quantitative household surveys. Our major findings are: (1) practicing agroforestry can influence perceptions of floods and drought, (2) specific environmental and livelihood benefits of agroforestry contribute to livelihood resilience, and (3) agroforestry directly and indirectly builds livelihood resilience to floods and drought. Identifying potential climate change adaptation strategies is crucial for smallholder farmers. Our research indicates that agroforestry is one promising option. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:30:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7ea54a733c54bb3b16d61b44bee664f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:30:41Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7ea54a733c54bb3b16d61b44bee664f2022-12-21T19:56:35ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872017-09-012231010.5751/ES-09461-2203109461The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid KenyaAmy Quandt0Henry Neufeldt1J. Terrence McCabe2Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico State UniversityWorld Agroforestry Centre, Climate Change UnitInstitute of Behavioral Science, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado BoulderClimate change may create serious problems for farmers by increasing precipitation variability and drought and flood events. Understanding how to build livelihood resilience to these effects is a pressing need. Agroforestry is one potential solution. Although many people intuitively link agroforestry with livelihood resilience to floods and drought, little comprehensive empirical evidence exists. Here, we strive to answer the call for more empirical evidence by drawing on field work in Isiolo County, Kenya to ask the research question: How does agroforestry help smallholder farmers build livelihood resilience to floods and drought? We used a mixed-methods approach that included 20 qualitative case study households and 338 quantitative household surveys. Our major findings are: (1) practicing agroforestry can influence perceptions of floods and drought, (2) specific environmental and livelihood benefits of agroforestry contribute to livelihood resilience, and (3) agroforestry directly and indirectly builds livelihood resilience to floods and drought. Identifying potential climate change adaptation strategies is crucial for smallholder farmers. Our research indicates that agroforestry is one promising option.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss3/art10/agroforestryclimate changedroughtfloodKenyaresiliencesustainable livelihoods |
| spellingShingle | Amy Quandt Henry Neufeldt J. Terrence McCabe The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya Ecology and Society agroforestry climate change drought flood Kenya resilience sustainable livelihoods |
| title | The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya |
| title_full | The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya |
| title_fullStr | The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya |
| title_short | The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid Kenya |
| title_sort | role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and drought in semiarid kenya |
| topic | agroforestry climate change drought flood Kenya resilience sustainable livelihoods |
| url | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss3/art10/ |
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