Farmers' Perceptions And Adaptation Strategies Of Climate Change Based On The Line Transect Of Vertical Gradient

Livelihood is one of the main human activities,and plays a leading role in the relationship between man and land.Farmers' perception is different under different climate change,and it affects farmers' livelihood capital,which determines their vulnerability to climate change and the choice of adaptation strategies.High quality and efficient livelihood capital is the foundation for farmers to reduce production and life vulnerability,and to enhance risk resilience.The adaptation strategy chosen by farmers,the basis for farmers to choose adaptive strategies,determines their production mode and consumption behavior,and further determines their source of income and consumption ability.This study selects the region along the Huangshui River,northeastern margin of the Qinghai-tibet Plateau,as the research area,which locates in the typical agricultural region of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau.Good hydrothermal conditions and natural resources provide favorable conditions for the development of local agriculture.Based on the Sustainable Livelihood Approach from Uk's Department for International Development(DFID)and 1007 pieces of survey sheets,obtained from investigation of 31 villages along the Huangshui River,this study empirically analyzes the impact of climate change on farmers' livelihood capital at different altitudes,and its interrelationship and difference with adaptation strategies.Results are listed below.(1)The research area had a significant rise of temperature in recent half a century,while the precipitation kept steady.Because of the obvious rise of temperature and the uneven distribution of precipitation,the whole area has been warm and dry.Heavy rain,drought,hail and other farming pest disasters,affected the production and life of farmers.At the same time,87% of the farmers have a strong sense of extreme weather events,and it is consistent with the actual climate change trend of warm drying and extreme weather events over the last 50 years.The impact on crops is in turn becoming severe,therefore affected the agricultural income of farmers in some degree.All of these constrained the sustainable development of agriculture in the region.(2)The survey found that 87% of the respondents were aware of the significant climate warming in recent years.With the rise of altitude,farmers' perception of extreme weather events and the more kinds of disasters is becoming more and more intense.The higher the altitude,the stronger frost disaster;The lower the altitude,the stronger the pest perception;And close to town,gales are frequent.(3)Climate change has a certain impact or threat on farmers' livelihood capital along the Huangshui River,but there are significant differences in the impact of farmers at different altitudes.The farmers interviewed in the alpine region considered that climate change had the greatest impact on their physical capital,which is mainly traffic convenience and livestock stock.Rainstorms and hailstorms and other disasters caused serious damage to their housing,roads,cattle and sheep and so on,and caused some economic losses.In the cool crop area,farmers think that climate change has the most significant impact on their social capital,which is mainly related to their relatives and human costs,which are non-farm livelihood activities such as sales of vegetables,fruits and other economic crops,as well as going out for work.Farmers in the overwintering area considered that climate change had the most significant impact on their natural capital,which is mainly cultivated land area and cultivated land quality.The direct impact is the reduction,even failure of crop output,which has seriously affected its agricultural income and total family income.It indirectly leads to the reduction of financial capital,which is mainly based on family income,and which further affects farmers' construction of other capital,such as the construction of material foundation,the improvement of labor quality and the reinforcement of social network.(4)Farmers at different altitudes in the research region take different adaptation strategies for different climate change perceptions and livelihood capitals.As altitude increases,the initiative of farmers to choose adaptive strategies is lower,and the less adaptive strategy is.Farmers in the alpine crop area mainly adopt adaptive strategies including productive adaptation strategy,safeguard adaptation strategy and life adaptation strategy.Among them,the productive adaptation strategy is the main and the guarantee adaptation strategy is subsidiary.In the cool crop area,farmers adopt adaptive strategies such as "life adaptation strategy,productive adaptation strategy,guarantee adaptation strategy".Among them,life adaptation strategy is the most important and productive adaptation strategy is subsidiary.The farmers in the overwintering crop region mainly adopt a variety of strategies such as "productive adaptation strategy,living adaptation strategy,guaranteed adaptation strategy",of which the productive adaptation strategy is the main,and the living adaptation strategy is supplemented.