Climate Change Policies and Adaptive Behavior of Farmers in Southern China

Abstract

Purpose

The paper analyzes the adaptive behavior of farmers in the Yunnan province of China, where drought is occurring more frequently. We focus on the experiences with adaptation to climate change by farmers in the rural areas of China.

Methodology/approach

The research is based on a survey and a number of in-depth interviews of key stakeholders in a drought-stricken region.

Findings

Where the government is not always coming forward, the farmers take initiatives to adapt to the new situation of drought. Different mechanisms are being used, some linked to government policies and subsidies, other initiatives are initiated by the farmers themselves, individually or in small groups.

Research implications

More research on the livelihood strategies is necessary to better understand what these strategies mean for the household income and hence for the survival chances of poor households.

Practical implications

Climate change encourages local actors to play a role in drought adaptation, developing policies for mitigating the consequences of drought, trying to create water markets and involving local companies and water user associations. The research suggests stimulating the initiatives of the farmers and to create an enabling environment for them.

Social implications

Without government policies we will see growing inequalities in the rural areas of China.

Originality/value

We studied how in the case of drought farmers react to adapt to the new reality. Different adaptation strategies are distinguished and their relation to different government policies is established. We observed that farmers find their own solutions and create their own governance structures to assure for example supply of additional water to their fields.

Citation

van Dijk, M.P. and Li, H. (2015), "Climate Change Policies and Adaptive Behavior of Farmers in Southern China", Climate Change, Culture, and Economics: Anthropological Investigations (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 35), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0190-128120150000035007