The vulnerability of social-environmental systems and farmers' livelihood to climate change on China's Loess Plateau

Abstract

Climate change is increasingly affecting social-environmental systems and rural communities across the globe. It is expected to impact upon the climatic conditions on China’s Loess Plateau, principally through prolonged variations in rainfall and droughts, pushing communities and farmers beyond their current adaptive capacity. There is an urgent need for assistance in building resilience and undertaking climate change adaptation efforts in order to reduce the vulnerability of social-environmental systems and farmers' livelihoods on the Plateau.

The social-environmental systems on China’s Loess Plateau are unique in that they are extremely dynamic and fragile due to severe deforestation, soil erosion, water stresses, and poverty, which have occurred over many centuries. Two remarkable and vast programs, the Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Program (1994-2005) by the World Bank, and the national Grain for Green (1999-current) project, to a large extent, have made the social-environmental systems on the Plateau more resilient to environmental stresses. However, neither of these two initiatives has integrated climate change scenarios into planning, design or implementation. It reveals that emerging vulnerabilities to climate change have already affected these initiatives’ long-term sustainability. For instance, trees planted died due to severe water scarcity and farmers’ were forced to re-farm retired land due to reduced farm income caused by unfavorable climatic effects. Therefore, the integration of climate change implications into the policy-making processes and adaptive management strategy are keys to enhancing the resilience of social-environmental systems on the Plateau.

The case study area of Huachi explores in greater depth the vulnerability of agriculture and farmers’ livelihoods to climate change. It identified the following adaptive strategies currently available to local farmers: cultivation of drought resistant crops and varieties; water-saving agricultural technologies; and non-farm employment. It has been found that farmers’ resilience to the adverse effects of changing climatic conditions has been improved. The results also found that main factors can enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity are farmers’ knowledge and skills; access to climate information, farming technology and infrastructure; access to markets, farmland tenure and off-farm activities. These findings have considerable relevance for the Chinese Government in their efforts to develop policies aimed at improving these factors.