Understanding Variability in Adaptive Capacity on Rangelands |
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| Authors: | Nadine A Marshall Alex Smajgl |
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| Institution: | 1. PhD Candidate, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China;2. Assistant Researcher, Institute of International Rivers and Eco-Security, Yunnan University, Beijing, P. R. China;3. Assistant Researcher, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China;4. Professor, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China;1. Department of Natural Resources & Society, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA, 83844;2. US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), LTAR-Gulf Atlantic Coastal Plain, Tifton, GA, USA, 31794;3. Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, ID, USA, 83712;1. Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA;2. Assistant Professor, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA;3. Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA;4. Doctoral Student, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA;5. Supervisory Research Rangeland Management Specialist and Research Leader, USDA-ARS Rangeland Resources Research Unit, Cheyenne, WY 82009, USA;6. Post-Doctoral Scholar, USDA-ARS Rangeland Resources Research Unit, Cheyenne, WY 82009, USA;7. Rangeland Watershed Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.;1. School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada;2. Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Economics, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. |
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| Abstract: | The art and science of developing effective policies and practices to enhance sustainability and adapt to new climate conditions on rangelands and savannas are typically founded on addressing the “average” or “typical” resource user. However, this assumption is flawed since it does not appreciate the extent of diversity among resource users; it risks that strategies will be irrelevant for many people and ignored, and that the grazing resource itself will remain unprotected. Understanding social heterogeneity is vital for effective natural resource management. Our aim was to understand the extent to which graziers in the northern Australian rangelands varied in their capacity to adapt to climate variability and recommended practices. Adaptive capacity was assessed according to four dimensions: 1) the perception of risk, 2) skills in planning, learning and reorganising, 3) financial and emotional flexibility, and 4) interest in adapting. We conducted 100 face-to-face interviews with graziers in their homes obtaining a 97% response rate. Of the 16 possible combinations that the four dimensions represent, we observed that all combinations were present in the Burdekin. Any single initiative to address grazing land management practices in the region is unlikely to address the needs of all graziers. Rather, policies could be tailored to type-specific needs based on adaptive capacity. Efforts to shift graziers from very low, low, or moderate levels of adaptive capacity are urgently needed. We suggest some strategies. |
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