Towards farmers’ livelihood resilience to climate change in Iran: A systematic review

Abstract

Recognizing the resilience and especially the livelihood resilience of farmers is of great importance for policy makers. Thus, the present study is aimed to analyze farmers’ livelihood resilience to climate change (LRCC). The studied area was Hamadan province in the west of Iran. The research methodology is qualitative content analysis (QCA) with a deductive approach, which is performed by selecting reliable sources and examining existing theories and content in livelihood resilience. The documents used for QCA included a systematic study of 44 articles from 33 journals (12 local (Iranian) journals and 21 international journals) and 5 M.Sc. thesis. The results indicated that farmers' LRCC are based on three dimensions including “buffer capacity (the sum of subsistence capital including human, physical, financial, natural and social capital)”, “self-organization (ability to form flexible networks to deal with unbalanced conditions and environmental, economic and social challenges)” and “learning capacity (acquiring knowledge and skills to form a resilient structure)”. In this regard, the most important factors affecting LRCC are: institutional-structural, environmental psychology, adaptation capacity and personal and professional characteristics. Finally, the LRCC model is presented in the agriculture sector, which can be used by policymakers in planning and making decisions.

Keywords

• Adaptation
• Subsistence
• Self-organization
• Capacity of learning
• Buffer capacity