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Lessons from farmers’ adaptive practices to climate change in China: a systematic literature review

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Abstract

Due to the vulnerability and exposure of agriculture, farmers’ adaptive strategies to climate change are important to food security and sustainable environment development. However, a systematic review is still absent, though there are many studies about farmers’ adaptations to climate change, and few studies discuss their potential impacts on climate change. This article analyses farmers’ adaptation strategies and their heterogeneities across regions in China via a systemic literature review. Then we also discuss possible driving factors of these adaptations and their potential impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. We follow the updated Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) guidelines to identify and screen publications. A total of 448 relevant records were identified from the Web of Science, Elsevier ScienceDirect, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). We include peer-reviewed publications focusing on farmers engaged in crop farming in China, with survey data and specific adoption ratio analysis of adaptations to climate change. After screening, 27 articles were finally analysed. Our results show that crop variety management, rescheduling farming, increasing production inputs, increasing irrigation, and crop structure management are prevalent strategies reported in the existing literature. However, sustainable adaptations such as improving farmland’s ecological environment and agronomic water-saving irrigation gain less attention. Besides, farmers in northern China adapt to climate change more actively compared to their counterparts in southern China. Moreover, some adaptations with high adoption ratios, such as increased chemical inputs, might increase greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate climate change. Our findings have important implications for food security and sustainable agricultural development.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Materials availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Notes

  1. Generally, the main grain-producing areas include 13 provinces, specifically Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Shandong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Sichuan provinces, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

  2. Normally, Qinling-Huaihe Line is regarded as the dividing line between northern and southern China. In this study, northern areas include Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Hebei, Liaoning, Jilin, Beijing, Tianjin and Heilongjiang provinces (municipalities), and Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions; southern areas cover Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Hainan provinces (municipalities), and Hongkong, Macao, and Taiwan. More details could be found in the form of an online map (mnr.gov.cn).

  3. The data is from the government’s report mem.gov.cn.

Abbreviations

ANF:

Adopting new farming technology

AT:

Adjusting tillage

AWM:

Agriculture water management

BFI:

Building farmland infrastructure

CNKI:

China National Knowledge Infrastructure

CRM:

Crop management

CSM:

Crop structure management

CUM:

Cultivation management

CVM:

Crop variety management

DWM:

Domestic water management

EMR:

Extending, maintaining, or reserving water supplies

FA:

Financial adaptation

FAG:

Facility agriculture

FM:

Farm management

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

IFEE:

Improving farmland ecological environment

II:

Increasing irrigation

III:

Investing in irrigation infrastructure

IM:

Increasing mulch

IPI:

Increasing production inputs

IRM:

Income and residence management

PRISMA:

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

RF:

Rescheduling farming

RPA:

Reducing planting areas

SM:

Soil management

WSI:

Water-saving irrigation

References

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Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 71873067), the China–Europe Efficient Water Management Research Platform (no. 2017YFE0118100), “A project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)”, and the Graduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (no. KYCX20_0611).

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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Ideas, research goals, and aims were formulated by Funing Zhong and Dingqiang Sun. Identifying related literature and screening records according to several rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria were performed by Jiao Chen and Dingqiang Sun. Data analysis and the first of the manuscript were written by Jiao Chen. Writing—reviewing and editing were finished by Dingqiang Sun, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dingqiang Sun.

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Responsible Editor: Baojing Gu

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Chen, J., Zhong, F. & Sun, D. Lessons from farmers’ adaptive practices to climate change in China: a systematic literature review. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 81183–81197 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23449-z

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