Abstract
The livelihoods of 370 million indigenous people of the world are dependent upon shifting cultivation, the most primitive form of farming at stake amid climate change. These groups of forest peasants are hardly reached by the mainstream research system, and therefore, their perspectives remain uninvestigated, leading to an inadequate understanding of the way they earn their living and the changes they adopt against environmental stresses. The present study is aimed to integrate local perspectives on the global phenomenon of climate change as we compare shifting cultivators’ (n = 600) climate change perceptions with meteorological data for a holistic understanding of their adaptation decisions in shifting cultivation. Climatic trends are analyzed from the precipitation and temperature data of the India Meteorological Department. Results reveal that three-fourths (~ 76%) of the respondents made alterations in the shifting cultivation calendar as an adaptation strategy to climate change. The following are the study’s most important findings: (1) the shifting cultivators’ perceptions about climate change are credible despite some inconsistencies for the precipitation-related events. (2) Their adaptation decisions on sowing, weed control, crop protection, and harvesting compared to pre-sowing activities like selection and clearing of forested hilly lands are more influenced by their climate change perceptions. The study suffers from the usual limitations inherent with the process of memory-based reporting in perception surveys and a lack of means to isolate the influences of the data generation process on estimates. However, it identifies the appropriateness of the climate change perceptions of shifting cultivators and recommends their inclusion for the effective formulation of policies regarding climate risk management.
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Data availability
The meteorological datasets analyzed during the current study are freely available on the official website of the Climate Data Service Portal (CDSP) of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune (https://cdsp.imdpune.gov.in/home_gridded_data.php), while the perception datasets generated through interviews during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The present research paper emanates from a research study entitled ‘Jhum (Shifting) Cultivation in Northeast Region under Climate Change Scenario: A Critical Analysis’ conducted at the ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Umiam– 793103, Meghalaya, India. The authors heartily acknowledge all sorts of support received from the Farm Science Centres (Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and shifting cultivator households of the study districts from seven North Eastern Indian states—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. We are also thankful to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions for the improvement of the manuscript.
Funding
The study was funded by the ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Umiam– 793103, Meghalaya, India, under the in-house project ‘Jhum (Shifting) Cultivation in Northeast Region under Climate Change Scenario: A Critical Analysis’.
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The study was conceived by Sudipta Paul (SP). It was jointly designed by SP and Debasish Chakraborty (DC). SP analyzed the perception datasets. DC analyzed the meteorological datasets. SP and DC wrote the first draft. Rabindra Padaria (RP) guided during the analysis and interpretation of the results and edited the manuscript. Anil Kumar Tripathi (AKT) facilitated conducting of the study. The manuscript is approved by all the authors.
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Paul, S., Chakraborty, D., Padaria, R. et al. A comparison between climate change perceptions and meteorological observations to improve the understanding of adaptation decisions in shifting cultivation. Theor Appl Climatol 153, 1139–1155 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04521-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04521-1