Perceptions of Climate Adaptation and Mitigation: An Approach from Societies in Southern Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract

Climate research has steadily identified that public responses to the impacts associated with climate change are locally adjusted. These responses are mostly shaped by the prevailing socio-cultural knowledge systems underpinned by resilience thinking in the face of change and adversity. Despite the increasing scientific and policy attention to peoples’ perceptions of climatic changes and adaptive responses, there is still a lag in the more detailed probing and exploration of the local level demographic profiles related to the perceptions of and attitudes and responses to mitigation and adaptation strategies. This is of particular importance as the research, planning, and action concerning climate change mitigation and adaptation needs to be informed by and implemented within specific place contexts. Based largely on semi-structured interviews and complementary face-to-face questionnaires, this study focuses on southern Ecuador to identify people’s stances on climate change mitigation and adaptation and to investigate further the perceptions of farmers on adaptation. The results indicate a tendency among urban residents towards a pro-mitigation stance. Those with a pro-adaptation stance are mainly the residents of rural areas and farmers. Farmers appeared to be highly adaptive to climatic changes and are led by a self-assessed ability to adapt. Their adaptive responses vary according to the geographical place of residence, type of farmer, and age. The findings offer local level empirical evidence for designing effective adaptation strategies.

Perceptions, Knowledge, and Emotions About Owls in Southern Ecuador

“…Decision trees have predominantly found utility in fields such as medicine, computer science, land cover classification (Phiri et al 2020), and disease pattern detection (Nithya and Ilango 2019). However, it is noteworthy that decision trees have demonstrated their worth by facilitating the assessment of perceptions regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation measures (Iñiguez-Gallardo and Tzanopoulos 2023).…”

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“…Several factors influencing farmer decision-making in Andean fruit production. Improve the intricate decision-making processes of farmers in Nariño, highlighting market prices, yield potential, susceptibility to pests and diseases, and cultural significance as pivotal influencers in farmers' choices of Andean fruit species for cultivation [1].…”