IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i22p15877-d1278843.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Facing Climate Vulnerability in Mountain Areas: The Role of Rural Actors’ Agency and Situated Knowledge Production

Author

Listed:
  • Ivano Scotti

    (Department of Social Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy)

  • Corrado Ievoli

    (Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

  • Letizia Bindi

    (Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, and BIOCULT Centre of Research, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

  • Sara Bispini

    (Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

  • Angelo Belliggiano

    (Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

Abstract

Climate change is challenging in mountain areas, and initiatives to define resilience programs appear essential to face global warming impacts. Despite the participatory strategy being primarily considered the best solution to involve local actors in adopting resilience actions, the literature stresses how mountain dwellers, like farmers, are often considered passive subjects, and their ability to understand climate change and the actions to adopt is inadequate. Based on this consideration, we aim to highlight the relevance of the mountain actors’ agency, their “lay” situated knowledge, and the epistemology for co-defining resilience actions. Adopting a “weak version” of the Actor-Network Theory as the research posture, we argue that farmers’ perceptions of climate vulnerability is based on their experience of it, and their resilience actions or suggestions are coherent with their endowment resources (financial and knowledge) and their position in the economic system. In this sense, local actors’ initiatives to face climate change can be limited by their specific position in the socioeconomic contest-related value chain and their specific relationship with local natural settings. A participative strategy to co-define resilience actions can help identify more effective initiatives according to the context between actors. Moreover, it can contribute to the knowledge exchange among “lay” local actors, experts, and policymakers, benefiting everyone; farmers could identify suitable solutions to face climate vulnerability, experts could increase their knowledge of local contexts, and policymakers could define adequate policies. Focusing on a specific area in “Alto Molise” (Italy), we present research results to contribute to the debate on climate resilience in mountain areas, stressing the significance of the local actors’ agency, the presence of the different epistemologies put in play (lay and expert ones), the co-production of knowledge, and the need to actively involve local actors in designing practices and policies to face climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivano Scotti & Corrado Ievoli & Letizia Bindi & Sara Bispini & Angelo Belliggiano, 2023. "Facing Climate Vulnerability in Mountain Areas: The Role of Rural Actors’ Agency and Situated Knowledge Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15877-:d:1278843
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15877/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/22/15877/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dolinska, Aleksandra & d'Aquino, Patrick, 2016. "Farmers as agents in innovation systems. Empowering farmers for innovation through communities of practice," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 122-130.
    2. Tenzing Ingty, 2017. "High mountain communities and climate change: adaptation, traditional ecological knowledge, and institutions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 41-55, November.
    3. Vaughan Higgins, 2006. "Re-Figuring the Problem of Farmer Agency in Agri-Food Studies: A Translation Approach," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(1), pages 51-62, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cholez, Celia & Pauly, Olivier & Mahdad, Maral & Mehrabi, Sepide & Giagnocavo, Cynthia & Bijman, Jos, 2023. "Heterogeneity of inter-organizational collaborations in agrifood chain sustainability-oriented innovations," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    2. Eastwood, C.R. & Turner, F.J. & Romera, A.J., 2022. "Farmer-centred design: An affordances-based framework for identifying processes that facilitate farmers as co-designers in addressing complex agricultural challenges," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    3. Verburg, René W. & Verberne, Emma & Negro, Simona O., 2022. "Accelerating the transition towards sustainable agriculture: The case of organic dairy farming in the Netherlands," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    4. Nadzirah Hosen & Hitoshi Nakamura & Amran Hamzah, 2020. "Adaptation to Climate Change: Does Traditional Ecological Knowledge Hold the Key?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    5. Fieldsend, Andrew F. & Varga, Eszter & Biró, Szabolcs & Von Münchhausen, Susanne & Häring, Anna Maria, 2022. "Multi-actor co-innovation partnerships in agriculture, forestry and related sectors in Europe: Contrasting approaches to implementation," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    6. Kathrin Hasler & Hans-Werner Olfs & Onno Omta & Stefanie Bröring, 2016. "Drivers for the Adoption of Eco-Innovations in the German Fertilizer Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-18, July.
    7. Vincent R. Nyirenda & Bimo A. Nkhata & Oscar Tembo & Susan Siamundele, 2018. "Elephant Crop Damage: Subsistence Farmers’ Social Vulnerability, Livelihood Sustainability and Elephant Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Lawrence, Anna & Deuffic, Philippe & Hujala, Teppo & Nichiforel, Liviu & Feliciano, Diana & Jodlowski, Krzysztof & Lind, Torgny & Marchal, Didier & Talkkari, Ari & Teder, Meelis & Vilkriste, Lelde & W, 2020. "Extension, advice and knowledge systems for private forestry: Understanding diversity and change across Europe," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Camille Robert-Boeuf, 2023. "Promoting Rural Regeneration and Sustainable Farming near Cities Thanks to Facilitating Operators in France? The Case of the Versailles Plain’s Association Governance Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-16, April.
    10. Vik, Jostein & Stræte, Egil Petter, 2017. "Embedded Competence: A Study of Farmers’ Relation to Competence and Knowledge," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 2017(1), June.
    11. Kernecker, Maria & Seufert, Verena & Chapman, Mollie, 2021. "Farmer-centered ecological intensification: Using innovation characteristics to identify barriers and opportunities for a transition of agroecosystems towards sustainability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    12. Skaalsveen, Kamilla & Ingram, Julie & Urquhart, Julie, 2020. "The role of farmers' social networks in the implementation of no-till farming practices," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    13. McCaig, Melanie & Rezania, Davar & Dara, Rozita, 2023. "Framing the response to IoT in agriculture: A discourse analysis," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    14. Dolinska, Aleksandra, 2017. "Bringing farmers into the game. Strengthening farmers' role in the innovation process through a simulation game, a case from Tunisia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 129-139.
    15. Mikkola, Minna, 2015. "Business Concept as a Relational Message: Supermarket vs Independent Grocery as Competitors for Sustainability," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 6(4), pages 1-11, November.
    16. Donghui Lv & Huiying Gao & Yu Zhang, 2021. "Rural Economic Development Based on Shift-Share Analysis in a Developing Country: A Case Study in Heilongjiang Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    17. van Ewijk, Edith & Ros-Tonen, Mirjam A.F., 2021. "The fruits of knowledge co-creation in agriculture and food-related multi-stakeholder platforms in sub-Saharan Africa – A systematic literature review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    18. Jakku, E. & Thorburn, P.J., 2010. "A conceptual framework for guiding the participatory development of agricultural decision support systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 675-682, November.
    19. Deffontaines, Landry & Mottes, Charles & Della Rossa, Pauline & Lesueur-Jannoyer, Magalie & Cattan, Philippe & Le Bail, Marianne, 2020. "How farmers learn to change their weed management practices: Simple changes lead to system redesign in the French West Indies," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    20. Wenndt, Anthony J. & Sudini, Hari Kishan & Pingali, Prabhu & Nelson, Rebecca, 2021. "Farmer research networks enable community-based mycotoxin management in rural Indian villages," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:22:p:15877-:d:1278843. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.