Perception of Environmental Spillovers Across Scale in Climate Change Adaptation Planning: The Case of Small-Scale Farmers’ Irrigation Strategies, Kenya

Abstract

The failure to acknowledge and account for environmental externalities or spillovers in climate change adaptation policy, advocacy, and programming spaces exacerbate the risk of ecological degradation, and more so, the degradation of land. The use of unsuitable water sources for irrigation may increase salinisation risks. However, few if any policy assessments and research efforts have been directed at investigating how farmer perceptions mediate spillovers from the ubiquitous irrigation adaptation strategy. In this study, the cognitive failure and/or bias construct is examined and proposed as an analytical lens in research, policy, and learning and the convergence of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation discourses. A cross-sectional survey design and multistage stratified sampling were used to collect data from 69 households. To elicit the environmental impacts of irrigation practices, topsoil and subsoils from irrigated and non-irrigated sites were sampled and analysed using AAS (atomic absorption spectrophotometer). A generalised linear logistic weight estimation procedure was used to analyse the perception of risks while an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyse changes in exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The findings from small-scale farmers in Machakos and Kakamega counties, Kenya, suggest multifaceted biases and failures about the existence and importance of externalities in adaptation planning discourses. Among other dimensions, a cognitive failure which encompasses fragmented approaches among institutions for use and management of resources, inadequate policy. and information support, as well as the poor integration of actors in adaptation planning accounts for adaptation failure. The failures in such human–environment system interactions have the potential to exacerbate the existing vulnerability of farmer production systems in the long run. The findings further suggest that in absence of risk message information dissemination, education level, farming experience, and information accumulation, as integral elements to human capital, do not seem to have a significant effect on behaviour concerning the mitigation of environmental spillovers. Implicitly, reversing the inherent adaptation failures calls for system approaches that enhance coordinated adaptation planning, prioritise the proactive mitigation of slow-onset disaster risks, and broadens decision support systems such as risk information dissemination integration, into the existing adaptation policy discourses and practice.

Disconnect within Agriculture and Ecosystem Climate Effects, Adaptations and Policy

“…Identifying a range of possible adaptations or a time frame where one adaptation might be more effective could be productive. Several of the papers cited here were also able to identify adaptations that might not be useful [37][38][39]41]. While the scope of study areas and methodologies suggests that adaptations discussed in these papers are difficult to summarize, it might be helpful for future research to discuss adaptations that are likely to lead to maladaptation or worse outcomes just as much as suggest adaptations.…”

“…Changes in water availability and use is expected under climate change and has been observed to have varying impacts on AE systems within the special issue. Elijah and Odiyo show that Kenyan droughts have increased the use of groundwater to sustain rainfed agriculture, which leads to increased soil salinity due to irrigation [38]. Scholes illustrates that South Africa is also experiencing land degradation, due to high solar radiation, low atmospheric humidity and rainfall, and increased seasonality and variability of rainfall, causing a shift away from animal production and potentially to energy production [39].…”

“…Policy recommendations were generally specific to the particular study area and they emphasized the need for local solutions and investments in human capital, such as the recommendation of several papers on education for success [37][38][39]. It was also clear that, if properly designed, financial incentives and economic support mechanisms could be useful in a number of study areas [40,41].…”

Effective Mainstreaming of Agricultural Emissions into Climate Action Agenda: The Case of Institutions and Smallholder Dairy Production Systems, Western Kenya

“…Implicitly, most policies are characterised by inadequate understanding of the interplay between risk lenses in land use and the potential outcomes at local and extra-local levels [78]. For example, though innovative instruments, i.e., PES, have the potential to reduce GHG emissions [59], most of such projects and programs on climate change adaptation and mitigation are donor-driven with a tendency for duplication [79].…”

Determinants of Small-Scale Irrigation Use for Poverty Reduction: The Case of Offa Woreda, Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

“…Irrigation, according to most, can increase production and productivity. is, in turn, offers new job opportunities on and off the farm, potentially increasing rural income, livelihoods, and quality of life [29,[31][32][33]. However, no research has been done on the effect of poverty on SSIs in the study area.…”