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• Pakistan is highly vulnerable and exposed to extreme climatic events. • Farmers' risk perception and attitude are crucial factors influencing farm-related decisions. • Majority of the farmers were aware of climate change. • The farmers adapted several adaptation measures to cope with climate change. • Several factors, including poverty and credit constraints, make farmers more vulnerable. Pakistan is highly vulnerable to extreme climatic events, such as floods and droughts. This study determines the farmers' risk perception, risk attitude, adaptation measures and various aspects of vulnerability to climate change (e.g. floods, droughts, heavy rainfalls, pests and disease) at farm level in rural Pakistan. The risk perception and attitude of farm households are crucial factors that influence farm productivity, investment and management decisions at this level. A well-designed questionnaire was used to interview 720 farm households from six districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. A binary logit model was used to determine the main factors that affect the choice of adaptation strategies of the farm household. The findings revealed that crop diversification, changing crop varieties, altering the crop calendar, varying the fertilizer used, mulching and farm insurance were the main adaptation strategies followed by farm households. The results of the binary logit model revealed that age, education, farm size, household size, credit accessibility, annual income and the perception on the increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall had significant influence on the selection of the adaption strategies. The findings of this study can provide guidance, policy recommendations and reference for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of global warming on vegetation phenology are widespread. A study in Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan investigated the effects of ecological factors including precipitation and temperature on phytochemical, and nutritional composition of wild Caralluma tuberculata N. E. Brown. Photosynthetic pigments, saponins, crude proteins, crude fats, moisture, and ash were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the plants of Shaker Darra area than in the plants of Lakki Marwat, Darra Adam Khel, and Spin Wam areas. Pearson correlation explains a high correlation existing between the annual rainfall and temperature with that of pregnane glycosides. The current study concluded that mainly rainfall influences the phytochemical, nutritional, and physiological profiles of C. tuberculata. • C. tuberculata , a locally vulnerable multipurpose plant species. • Rainfall affects photosynthetic pigments and phyto-chemicals of C. tuberculata. • Temperature also alters phyto-chemical and nutritional composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change may have detrimental effects on income from crop farming in Pakistan and according to the IPCC (2014), the impacts of climate change will be more vigorous in the coming years. Despite a few studies we still have limited knowledge on how climate change can impact the crop farming economy in Pakistan. Considering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan as the study area, we attempted to fill this gap by analyzing the economic impacts of climate change on the net income from crop farming. Data from the 635 farm households and also climatic variables data were collected from five agro-ecological zones (AEZ) of the KP. The Ricardian method was employed for analysis purposes. The results revealed that the increase of annual average temperature and decreases in rainfall is strongly associated with net revenue deficits. The effects of increasing precipitation are observed to be useful but an increase in temperature is forecasted to be harmful to the net revenue. The effect of increased temperature in the summer season on NR ranged between US$-29 to US$35, and the effect in the winter season ranged between US$-14 to US$28 per hectare. The effect of decreased annual precipitation on NR in the summer season and winter season ranged between US$ 0 to US$-24 and US$<-20 per hectare, respectively. This effect is particularly severe in the Central Valley Plains, Southern Piedmont Plains, and Western Dry Mountains. This study further evaluates the effects of the climatic forecasts by three Atmospheric Oceanic General Circulation Models (AOGCM). Our results will facilitate the policymakers to implement suitable strategies in KP to curb the deleterious effects of climate change on overall crop production and farmer income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]