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Farmers’ perceptions of climate change impacts on ecosystem services delivery of parklands in southern Mali

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Abstract

Agroforestry parklands in the Sahel provide a number of ecosystem services that help farmers cope better with climate change effects and thus reducing their vulnerability. However, parklands are threatened due to the decline in densities of species that are sensitive to drought and that might compromise the delivery of the above mentioned ecosystem services to farmers. Therefore, data were collected by interviewing 400 smallholder farmers to elucidate farmers’ perceptions of climate change in southern Mali and potential consequences on the delivery of ecosystem services from the parklands. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logit model were used to analyse the data collected and identify the indictors as well as the determinants of farmers’ perception of climate change. The findings revealed increases in the frequency of strong wind, dust, drought, high temperatures and number of hot days as the main climate change-related indicators. Furthermore, an early cessation of the rainy season, frequent drought and wind were found to be the factors impeding a better delivery of the ecosystem services from the parklands. Early cessation of rains and frequent drought might affect the water availability which in turn affects the flowering and fruiting phases of the trees. The occurrence of strong wind causes the shedding of the flowers thus reducing the fruit production. Age, educational level, farm size and gender are key factors influencing farmer’s perception of climate change. The strategies adopted by these farmers to cope with climate shocks include use of improved drought-tolerant crop varieties, diversification of crops, off-farm activities and seasonal migration. Based on these findings, we therefore suggest the development of conducive environment that can help create agricultural related off-farm income earning activities that could protect active households from the impacts of climate change and variability.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the West African Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted land Use (WASCAL) Program, which is gratefully acknowledged. Through the internship, ICRAF has contributed through its programmes/projects and particularly through CRP7 and Africa RISING. We thank all farmers in the study area for their patience during the survey. We extend our thanks to the staff members of ICRAF-WCA/Sahel for their assistance and logistic support during the field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. WASCAL Graduate Research Program on Climate Change and Biodiversity, Université Felix Houphouët Boigny, BP 165, Abidjan 31, Ivory Coast

    Kapoury Sanogo & Soro Dodiomon

  2. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), ICRAF-WCA/Sahel, BP E5118, Bamako, Mali

    Kapoury Sanogo, Joachim Binam, Jules Bayala & Antoine Kalinganire

  3. Department of Ecology and Natural Resources Management, Centre for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Walter-Flex St. 3, 53113, Bonn, Germany

    Grace B. Villamor

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  1. Kapoury Sanogo
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Correspondence to Kapoury Sanogo.

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Sanogo, K., Binam, J., Bayala, J. et al. Farmers’ perceptions of climate change impacts on ecosystem services delivery of parklands in southern Mali. Agroforest Syst 91, 345–361 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9933-z

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