Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands

Since the late 1970s, extensive livestock production in the high plateaus of Eastern Morocco, particularly of small ruminants, has been seriously threatened by climate change (CC). Negative impacts include reduction in rangeland forage production and water availability, increased poverty and inequal...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wadii Snaibi, Abdelhamid Mezrhab, Oumar Sy, John F. Morton
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/ab053c5d5b3b487884507fc131031e12
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:ab053c5d5b3b487884507fc131031e12
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:ab053c5d5b3b487884507fc131031e122021-12-02T05:03:12ZPerception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands2405-844010.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08434https://doaj.org/article/ab053c5d5b3b487884507fc131031e122021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021025378https://doaj.org/toc/2405-8440Since the late 1970s, extensive livestock production in the high plateaus of Eastern Morocco, particularly of small ruminants, has been seriously threatened by climate change (CC). Negative impacts include reduction in rangeland forage production and water availability, increased poverty and inequality, and increased degradation of rangelands. Different categories of pastoralists have adopted different combinations of adaptation strategies, but the factors influencing adoption have not to date been investigated. This paper aims to identify the perceptions of pastoralists on CC, to analyze the adaptive responses of different wealth categories, and to determine the factors affecting the adoption of adaptation measures. The Mann-Kendall, Pettitt and Buishand tests and the standardized precipitation index were used to analyze the climate data. Data on adaptation were examined using the chi-square homogeneity test, Kruskal-Wallis test and binary logistic regression.The observed climate trends perfectly corroborated pastoralists' perceptions of significant changes in their local climate since the 1970s: a considerable decrease in annual rainfall and an increase in temperature and frequency of droughts and high winds. There were significant differences (Chi square = 7.603, p = 0.022, df = 2) between small, medium and large pastoralists in the frequency adoption of adaptation strategies, especially between small and large pastoralists (U statistic = 16.000, p = 0.009). The distribution of most adaptation actions also differed significantly between these two groups. Wealthier pastoralists have adopted a greater range of strategies, while poorer pastoralists have less diverse adaptation portfolios, and are more likely to adopt less advantageous strategies such as casual labor. The adoption of adaptation practices was significantly influenced by equipment, educational level, household size, herd size, training received, CC perceptions and agroecological setting. Public interventions to improve the adaptive capacity of pastoralists in Morocco's arid rangelands should be geared towards addressing these determinants and should prioritise small-scale pastoralists.Wadii SnaibiAbdelhamid MezrhabOumar SyJohn F. MortonElsevierarticleClimate changeLivestock productionVulnerabilityAdaptationDeterminantBinary logistic regressionScience (General)Q1-390Social sciences (General)H1-99ENHeliyon, Vol 7, Iss 11, Pp e08434- (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Climate change
Livestock production
Vulnerability
Adaptation
Determinant
Binary logistic regression
Science (General)
Q1-390
Social sciences (General)
H1-99
spellingShingle Climate change
Livestock production
Vulnerability
Adaptation
Determinant
Binary logistic regression
Science (General)
Q1-390
Social sciences (General)
H1-99
Wadii Snaibi
Abdelhamid Mezrhab
Oumar Sy
John F. Morton
Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands
description Since the late 1970s, extensive livestock production in the high plateaus of Eastern Morocco, particularly of small ruminants, has been seriously threatened by climate change (CC). Negative impacts include reduction in rangeland forage production and water availability, increased poverty and inequality, and increased degradation of rangelands. Different categories of pastoralists have adopted different combinations of adaptation strategies, but the factors influencing adoption have not to date been investigated. This paper aims to identify the perceptions of pastoralists on CC, to analyze the adaptive responses of different wealth categories, and to determine the factors affecting the adoption of adaptation measures. The Mann-Kendall, Pettitt and Buishand tests and the standardized precipitation index were used to analyze the climate data. Data on adaptation were examined using the chi-square homogeneity test, Kruskal-Wallis test and binary logistic regression.The observed climate trends perfectly corroborated pastoralists' perceptions of significant changes in their local climate since the 1970s: a considerable decrease in annual rainfall and an increase in temperature and frequency of droughts and high winds. There were significant differences (Chi square = 7.603, p = 0.022, df = 2) between small, medium and large pastoralists in the frequency adoption of adaptation strategies, especially between small and large pastoralists (U statistic = 16.000, p = 0.009). The distribution of most adaptation actions also differed significantly between these two groups. Wealthier pastoralists have adopted a greater range of strategies, while poorer pastoralists have less diverse adaptation portfolios, and are more likely to adopt less advantageous strategies such as casual labor. The adoption of adaptation practices was significantly influenced by equipment, educational level, household size, herd size, training received, CC perceptions and agroecological setting. Public interventions to improve the adaptive capacity of pastoralists in Morocco's arid rangelands should be geared towards addressing these determinants and should prioritise small-scale pastoralists.
format article
author Wadii Snaibi
Abdelhamid Mezrhab
Oumar Sy
John F. Morton
author_facet Wadii Snaibi
Abdelhamid Mezrhab
Oumar Sy
John F. Morton
author_sort Wadii Snaibi
title Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands
title_short Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands
title_full Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands
title_fullStr Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands
title_full_unstemmed Perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in Morocco's arid rangelands
title_sort perception and adaptation of pastoralists to climate variability and change in morocco's arid rangelands
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/ab053c5d5b3b487884507fc131031e12
work_keys_str_mv AT wadiisnaibi perceptionandadaptationofpastoraliststoclimatevariabilityandchangeinmoroccosaridrangelands
AT abdelhamidmezrhab perceptionandadaptationofpastoraliststoclimatevariabilityandchangeinmoroccosaridrangelands
AT oumarsy perceptionandadaptationofpastoraliststoclimatevariabilityandchangeinmoroccosaridrangelands
AT johnfmorton perceptionandadaptationofpastoraliststoclimatevariabilityandchangeinmoroccosaridrangelands
_version_ 1718400729924763648