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From Rainforests to Drylands: Comparing Family Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change in Three Brazilian Biomes

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International Perspectives on Climate Change

Part of the book series: Climate Change Management ((CCM))

Abstract

Risk perceptions influence individual and collective adaptive responses to climate hazards. Up to now, the majority of literature addressing climate change perception and adaptation has been location-specific. Such an approach is limited with respect to the construction of a generalized theory around why and how people perceive and act towards climate change risks. This chapter seeks to contribute to overcome this limitation by offering a cross-sectional study of climate change risks perceptions among smallholder farmers settled in three contrasting biomes in Brazil: the Amazon (rainforest); the Caatinga (semi-arid); and the Cerrado (savanna). By articulating regional, local and micro scales of comparison, common traits in the perception of climate variability are identified. It is not intended, at this stage, to validate particular theories of climate change, but rather to contribute to a better understanding of climate change as a trans-regional and socially embedded environmental phenomenon. This study shows that, in spite of existing perceptive barriers, smallholders settled in dramatically different contexts share perceptions about risks linked to the following phenomena: (i) changes in the timing of seasons, (ii) decrease in rainfall levels; (iii) temperature rises. Moreover, there are specific adaptation strategies to climate change, like the timing of seeding, which appear to be addressed independently by smallholders of the three biomes. Public policies intended to support adaptive measures and the increase of food security must take subjective risk perception into account within the cultural and environmental contexts of the actors involved.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this article the term smallholders will be used as a synonym of small-scale producers and family farmers. The definition that has been adopted will be presented in the Methodology.

  2. 2.

    According to the criteria established in Brazil by The Smallholder Farming Act (No. 11,326, of July 24, 2006), the (a) smallholder (family farmer) or family entrepreneur must meet both requirements: (a) “does not hold in any capacity, area greater than four (4) fiscal units” (b) “use mostly labour of his or her own family in the economic activities of the establishment or undertaking” (c) “household income has predominantly originated from economic activities linked to the establishment or enterprise itself” (d) “manage his or her own establishment or undertaking with his or her family.”

  3. 3.

    N = 227.

  4. 4.

    Monkeys, agouti, paca, boars, capybaras, hawk.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Brasilia, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, Brazil

    Gabriela Litre, Stéphanie Nasuti, Catherine A. Gucciardi Garcez, Diego Pereira Lindoso & Jane Simoni

  2. Centre Maurice Halbwachs, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France

    Flávio Eiró

  3. Centro de Pesquisa de Limnologia, Biodiversidade e Etnobiologia do Pantanal, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso, Cáceres, Brazil

    Carolina Joana da Silva

  4. Rede Bionorte, Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM), Manaus, Brazil

    Cristiane Lima Façanha

Authors
  1. Gabriela Litre
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  2. Stéphanie Nasuti
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  3. Catherine A. Gucciardi Garcez
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  4. Diego Pereira Lindoso
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  5. Flávio Eiró
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  6. Jane Simoni
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  7. Carolina Joana da Silva
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  8. Cristiane Lima Façanha
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Correspondence to Gabriela Litre .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Climate Change Information Programme, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Universidade Alberta, Porto, Portugal

    Fátima Alves

  3. DCeT, Universidade Alberta Campus do Taguspark, Porto Salvo, Portugal

    Sandra Caeiro

  4. Universidade Alberta, Porto, Portugal

    Ulisses M. Azeiteiro

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Litre, G. et al. (2014). From Rainforests to Drylands: Comparing Family Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change in Three Brazilian Biomes. In: Leal Filho, W., Alves, F., Caeiro, S., Azeiteiro, U. (eds) International Perspectives on Climate Change. Climate Change Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04489-7_12

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