Reconfiguring Collective Practices as Pathways to Climate Adaptation in Tidal Coastal Agriculture of Rokan Hilir

Tidal coastal agriculture increasingly operates under recurrent climate related disruptions that make farming continuity dependent on collective coordination rather than household strategies alone. This study examines how collective practices are reconfigured into climate risk management pathways in three farming communities in Rokan Hilir Regency Indonesia Mukti Jaya Teluk Piyai and Raja Bejamu. Using a qualitative comparative case study design based on semi structured interviews field observations and document review the analysis integrates adaptation pathways thinking with Ostromian institutional design principles to explain divergent trajectories under broadly similar climate exposure. The results show that farming coordination is shaped by compounding risks including dry season water scarcity rainy season flooding and waterlogging cross plot pest dynamics and rising production costs. Across cases adaptation is sustained through bundles of collective practices encompassing water governance collective maintenance synchronized timing coordination routines and compliance mechanisms. These bundles evolve over time through reconfiguration involving changes in practice composition timing sequencing role distribution and enforcement arrangements. Cross case comparison identifies three distinct adaptation pathways. Mukti Jaya follows an institutionalized collective action pathway characterized by consolidated and enforceable synchronized routines. Teluk Piyai follows an incremental coping adaptation pathway shaped by seasonal and salinity constraints. Raja Bejamu follows a fragmented collective action pathway under contested scarcity. Pathway divergence is explained by interacting drivers of co-ordination feasibility enforcement capacity and ecological constraint regimes. The study advances a reconfiguration lens for pathway-based adaptation and highlights institutional trade-offs relevant for climate adaptation policy in inter- dependent coastal farming systems.