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JOURNAL OF DESERT RESEARCH ›› 2016, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (3): 814-822.DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-694X.2015.00050

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Impacts of Climate Change on Farmers Livelihood Capital in the Shiyanghe River Basin of China

Zhang Qin, Zhao Xueyan, Wang Yaru, Luo Li   

  1. College of Geography and Environment Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2014-12-10 Revised:2015-02-03 Online:2016-05-20 Published:2016-05-20

Abstract:

Climate change, the core issue of global change, has aroused wide spread international attention. Its influence involves every field of human life. It is vital to understand the influence of climate change on farmers' livelihood and the demand in the process of adaptation to climate change so as to ensure regional sustainable development. Using the meteorological data during 1963-2012 and the household survey data from 493 farmers in the Shiyanghe River Basin, we analyzed the influence of climate change on livelihood capital of farmers in different welfare level and the demand of the farmers in the process of adaptation to climate change. The results indicate that: (1) The climate change of the Shiyanghe River Basin present a trend of wet and warm, the upstream perform a significant trend while the trend at the middle and lower reaches is not obvious. (2) The impacts of climate change on the farmers livelihood at the middle and lower reaches are greater than the upstream farmers. And the impacts of climate change on the moderate welfare group is the most significant, secondly is the generous welfare group, the low welfare group is the weakest; of which, the natural capital is the strongest affected by climate change, material capital and social capital are the weakest affected. (3) Farmers of the whole basin are inclined to choose "reduce consumption" and "go out to work" to adapt to climate change, of which, selecting the "reduce consumption" has the highest percentage, followed by the percentage is choosing "go out to work" and "seek help from relatives or government". Generous welfare groups have the highest percentage in selecting the strategy of "reduce consumption", medium welfare groups has the highest percentage in choosing the strategy of "seek help from relatives or government". (4) Farmers' demand for information and money in adapting to climate change is the most significant in the whole basin, of which the demand for information is the most, next is the demand for capital, technology and the quality of the labor force .The demand of the generous welfare group and the low welfare group are very strong in terms of employment information, and the needs of the middle welfare group is very high in in terms of agricultural and livestock market information.

Key words: climate change, livelihood capital, adaptive strategy, farmers, Shiyanghe River Basin

CLC Number: