Social-learning from farmers' experience and behavior: A triple-loop analysis on climate change awareness, perceived impacts, and adaptation

Climate change tends to be addressed by accurate statistics and modelling, but it is generallyperceived abstractly, being considered a distant psychological risk in which impacts andeffects are spatially and temporally differentiated. In other words, people’s attitude towardsclimate change is that it will impact other individuals and communities that aregeographically, temporally, and even generationally removed from themselves. However, dueto the hybrid nature of climate change as both a physical and social phenomenon, individualsare not ‘blank slates’ receiving information and facing climate change. Many have argued thatdeepening personal experience could be the fi rst step for reducing individual and communitypsychological distance of climate change while increasing the potential for behavior change.Considering that agriculture affects and is affected by climate change in several ways,farmers can provide fi rst-hand observations of climate change impacts and testing differentadaptation options. This contribution provides an overview of the intellectual structure offarmers’ behavior on climate change awareness, perceived risks, and adaptation capacity. Aportfolio of 108 survey studies published in the last decade was selected for a comprehensiveanalysis. Exploratory variables such as farmers’ socio-demographic characteristics, level ofclimate change awareness, major perceived impacts, and adaptation measures, parameters,and barriers have been reported. In addition to the bibliographic analysis, the fi rst results froma survey conducted in different irrigation systems in northern Italy will be tested to identify(dis)similar trends in farmers’ behavior. The identifi cation of not only farmers’ behavior gapsbut also their causing reasons will contribute to focus attention on most concerning issuesand provide more accurate bottom-up knowledge to managers and decision-makers.