ABSTRACT

The impact of climate change is increasingly affecting the daily lives of poor farmer households. An understanding of the social dimension profoundly shapes the way in which policy-makers develop adaptation policies. This paper investigates the influence of components of social capital on the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies using data from rural households in Ethiopia. First, principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on the dataset of components of social capital to construct composite indicators for measuring farmers’ social capital. Second, the logit model was employed to investigate the influence of components of social capital on adopting climate change adaptation strategies. The results suggest that institutional trust positively influences climate change adaptation decisions. On the contrary, bonding social capital negatively affects the adoption decision. The following implications are worthy of consideration for improving farmers’ adoption of adaptation strategies: improving the institutions’ communication and sharing of information with farmers and investing in programmes that build links across groups in communities and up to those in authority.

摘要

气候变化的影响日益影响贫困农户的日常生活。对社会维度的理解深刻地影响了决策者制定适应政策的方式。本文使用埃塞俄比亚农村家庭的数据，研究了社会资本的组成部分对采用气候变化适应策略的影响。首先，对社会资本构成要素数据集进行主成分分析（PCA），构建衡量农民社会资本的复合指标。其次，采用logit模型研究社会资本成分对采用气候变化适应策略的影响。结果表明，制度信任对气候变化适应决策产生积极影响。相反，结合社会资本对收养决定产生负面影响。以下影响值得考虑以改善农民对适应战略的采用：改善机构与农民的沟通和信息共享，并投资于建立跨社区群体乃至权威人士的联系的计划。