Investigating The Impact Of Social Capital And Social Networks On Farmers' Climate Change Adaptation

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Aims and purpose of the researchClimate change is affecting farmers' production and livelihood around the world, especially in developing countries where most villagers are smallholder farmers with low access to knowledge, capital, and technological resources. In this situation, farmers need to deal with climate-related issues through more organized social networks and ties with various stakeholders to improve their social capital and adaptive capacity. Thus, in this study, those social networks and how they can be related to farmers' resilience will be investigated in rural areas in the center of Iran. Accordingly, the main research objectives of this study are to 1) know farmers' awareness of climate change and their strategies to cope with it, 2) to analyze the network structures of local farmers and investigate how they can affect their social capital and adaptive capacity, and 3) to recognize the most influential stakeholders in the studied network who are key actors in dealing with climate-related issues and increasing farmers' adaptation. There are also some important questions that this study seeks to answer. Including: 1. How is the studied farmers' climate change awareness and what are their strategies to cope with it? 2. How does the structure of farmers' network affect agricultural knowledge transfer, farmers' social capital, and adaptation to climate change? 3. Is there any difference in adaptation between farmers with different socio-economic characteristics, social networks, and levels of social capital?4. How can farmers' membership in different organizations (for example agricultural cooperatives) affect their capacity to adapt? What is the role of those organizations (governmental and non-governmental) in improving farmers' capacity to adapt? 5. Who are the most important stakeholders (farmers or institutions) that have a key role in the studied network who can affect the transfer of information in the farmers' network and their adaptation?