Journal
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Volume 19, Issue 4, Pages 1147-1158Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s10113-019-01462-2
Keywords
Social vulnerability; Large-scale irrigation; Global change; Sensitivity; Adaptive capacity; Exposure
Categories
Funding
- European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) [264465]
- Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO through BC3 Maria de Maeztu excellence accreditation [MDM-2017-0714]
- Postdoctoral Training of the Education Department of the Basque Government
- Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona-Banco de Santander-Talent Retention Programme
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Agricultural landscapes are dynamic environments which change in response to cropping and trade opportunities, available technologies and climatic conditions. In this article, we investigate farmers' vulnerability to climate-related stressors and crop price volatility in rural Navarre, Spain. Specifically, we analyse the extent to which livelihood differences and vulnerability can be partly explained by the development of a large-scale irrigation project promoted by the Spanish and regional governments. Grounded on qualitative and quantitative data gathered across 22 villages, we demonstrate that small-scale diversified farmers appear the most vulnerable and least able to adapt to climate-related stressors and crop price volatility. In contrast, more market-driven, large-scale intensive farmers, who participate in the irrigation project, are the least vulnerable to these stressors. We argue that the irrigation project has increased the short-term adaptive capacity of irrigation adopters while establishing the institutional conditions for the displacement of small-scale farming. Therefore, we suggest that farmers' vulnerability in Navarre can be explained by maladaptive irrigation policies designed to favour large-scale and market-driven agriculture.
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