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Rural women's contribution to reacting to climate change is highly significant but has been largely marginalized due to gender roles. This gender discrimination makes them more vulnerable to a variety of threats. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the behaviour of female rice farmers in Mazandaran Province, in northern Iran, toward climate change adaptation using protection motivation theory (PMT). 173 female heads of households' rice farmers in Mazandaran Province were selected through stratified random sampling. According to the findings, the perceived vulnerability (β = 0.19), perceived severity (β = 0.33), self-efficacy (β = 0.4), and response effectiveness (β = 0.35) of female rice farmers have a positive and noticeable effect on responding behaviour to climate change. However, the response costs (β = −0.61) have a negative but noticeable effect on their adaptation behaviour toward changing climate. Research findings also show that climate change severely damages the physical capital of women paddy farmers. The damage caused by these climate crises has a greater impact on the production capacity, product quality, production costs and food security of female heads of households. The findings of this study will help define patterns determining the adaptation of women to climate change, and public and private sector's strategic planning and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has experienced dramatic economic growth and social development, especially in the period between 1978 and 2008. The biodiversity and the socioeconomic sustainability in China were under threat, and the loss of wetlands was a significant aspect of ecological deterioration in the country at that time. However, the driving factors for the loss of wetlands are not well understood, probably due to a lack of accurate country-scale data. This study analyzes the changes in China's wetland area between 1978 and 2008 (1978, 1990, 2000, and 2008) and the interchange between different wetland types from 1990 to 2000. We select 29 socioeconomic parameters (per capita GDP, primary industry added value, secondary industry ratio, total population, arable land, pesticide use, aquatic products, railway mileage, domestic wastewater, urban sewage treatment capacity, etc.) and three meteorological parameters (annual temperature, annual precipitation, and annual sunshine) to analyze the driving forces of changes in wetlands. The factor analysis based on these parameters shows that two factors can explain 65.8% of the total variation from the data, while eight parameters can explain 59.7%. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis reveals that five factors are of great significance in explaining wetland change in China, which are annual temperature (p < 0.001), inland waterway mileage (p < 0.001), urban land acquisition (p = 0.01), secondary industry ratio (p = 0.014), and railway mileage (p = 0.02). In conclusion, climate change (especially temperature) and inland waterway mileage are the primary factors for changes in the wetlands in China, and other socioeconomic indicators, especially from industrial and construction factors, also play an important role in changes in wetlands during China's rapid economic development. In order to enhance wetland conservation efforts in China, we recommend prioritizing efforts to mitigate climate change on wetlands, promoting sustainable development policies, restoring and creating wetlands in urban areas, and utilizing advanced technologies to obtain accurate data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous knowledge about climate change that makes adaptability necessary by coping strategies leads to the sustainability of nomadic livelihoods. This paper proposed a new adaptability approach, an association coping strategy (ACS), which is established based on the association rulesʼ recommendations. The adaptability was empirically analyzed using 12 coping strategies used by Kashkooli nomads in Sepidan plain, Fars province, Iran. Required data were gathered both in the form of time series from November 1988 to February 2020 and cross section during June–July 2019. Household perceptions of climatic and environmental variables, supported by meteorological data, revealed that climate change was negatively impacting the Kashkooli nomadic livelihood in Sepidan plain. The findings also indicated that taking simultaneous coping strategies resulted in selling livestock surplus, saving water consumption, livestock insurance, rangeland regeneration schemes, and immigration to more suitable rangelands. Therefore, Kashkooli nomadic livelihood survived climate changes using ACSs. The association rules were useful for recommending anticipatory coping strategies that were adopted based on indigenous knowledge about climate change by nomads to establish appropriate adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting a qualitative approach, this study performs a gender analysis of the climate change effects on rice farmers' adaptation strategies (AS) in Mazandaran Province (northern Iran) based on the sustainable livelihood approach. For this purpose, 36 male and female heads of households in Arab Mahalla and Qajar Khel villages and 10 heads of households in Kiasar village (in Mazandaran Province) were selected and studied through theoretical and purposeful sampling methods of Corbin and Strauss. These villages have the highest number of female household heads and have been severely affected by the climate crisis in recent years. For the male-headed households (n = 23), the most important climate crisis was drought (f=16), and for the female-headed households (n = 23), drought, cold, and early off-season frost and monsoon storms were the most important (f=13). The results also indicated that in climatic crises, human (X̅=12.35) and social (X̅=13) capital from the women's perspective and financial (X̅=12.5) and physical (X̅=13) capital from the men's perspective had the highest vulnerability percentages whereas natural capital was equally affected from both the men's and women's viewpoints. One of the innovative aspects of this study is the gender analysis of the impact of climate change on the AS of sustainable livelihood framework based on a qualitative approach. This study recommends that beyond increasing the diversity of living amid climate change, deliberate climate change efforts should be directed at women and that fundamental gender discrimination such as prejudices and gender inequality should be eliminated. • This study performed a gender analysis on climate change adaptation strategies. • Female's human and social capital is more vulnerable than male's. • Men's financial and physical capital has the highest importance than women. • Larger-scale socio-political change need to realize the potential benefits for women. • The participation of rural women in social activities and rural cooperatives should be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is expected to adversely affect agricultural production, particularly in Iran where the agricultural sector forms the backbone of the economy. This is true for the agriculture sector of the southwest region of Iran which is largely rain-fed and dominated by smallholder farmers with minimal livelihood alternatives. Although several studies have been conducted on climate change, little has been done on the adaptive capacity of farmers within farming systems, especially in Iran. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the adaptive capacity of four common farming systems (i.e., family farming system, cooperative farming system, commercialized farming system, and agro-enterprise farming system) in Fars province, southwestern Iran. A seven-step approach was used to normalize, weigh, and aggregate 102 individual indicators within a composite adaptive capacity index that is dimensionless, ranging from 0 to 1, and 1 is the optimal value. The required data were collected using a cross-sectional survey from 1472 farmers within the four mentioned farming systems. The results showed that the highest value was recorded by agro-enterprise for knowledge, perception and awareness, transport and physical accessibility, and institution and economic resources. Agro-enterprise scored higher in terms of awareness and action, which shows that these farming systems have a higher capacity for adaptation to the threat posed by climate diversity. Farmers in this farming system benefit from high formal education, high perceptions about the threat and risk of climate change, the occurrence of climatic events, causes for the change in climatic parameters, and awareness of climate change impacts. This paper recommends resilience-building interventions in the study area, which target individuals with low adaptive capacities, especially farmers. The results can also assist agricultural policymakers to recognize which components and determinants of adaptive capacity should be prioritized to mitigate the threat of climate change to farming systems. [Display omitted] • This study aimed to investigate the adaptive capacity of common agricultural systems • Climate change has a negative impact on Iran's agricultural production systems • The results showed that farmers at agro-enterprises have a well awareness of climate change adaptation • It is essential to obtain information about potential, effective, and cost-effective adaptation options [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iran is currently suffering from a severe water shortage. Frequent droughts, along with over-abstraction of surface and groundwater, have pushed the country's water situation to crisis levels. To deal with this issue, changing the cultivation pattern has been suggested. The planners stated that other environmental objectives would be achieved by implementing changes to the cultivation pattern along with reducing water consumption. Concerning this issue, the present study aimed to identify the optimal water-saving cultivation pattern in the field cropping's subsector in Qazvin province. This province is particularly important in the production of field cropping, which has caused the groundwater level to drop. Therefore, 246 farmers were selected using a simple two-stage random sampling method, and the information was collected in 2019. According to the experts' ideas, a 15% increase in gross profit, a 10% decrease in agricultural water consumption, job stability, and a 15% decrease in chemical fertilizers and pesticides were considered the optimal goals. The findings showed that through the optimal allocation of the inputs to Low Water-Demand (LWD) and High Water-Demand (HWD) crops, the farmers could not only save water and different types of fertilizers and pesticides but also achieve their objectives in terms of their desired profit. Therefore, designing a system of allocation and distribution, establishing a standardization system, and monitoring and controlling farmers' behavior concerning the use of inputs can achieve the goal concerning farmers' income and goals for protecting water resources and the environment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]