Abstract

FORERO, Emma Lucía; HERNANDEZ, Yolanda Teresa  and  ZAFRA, Carlos Alfonso. LATIN AMERICAN PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: METHODOLOGIES, TOOLS AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES. A REVIEW. rev.udcaactual.divulg.cient. [online]. 2014, vol.17, n.1, pp.73-85. ISSN 0123-4226.

The study of the knowledge, beliefs and practices that the local communities have respect to climate change contributes to filling voids in the scientific information and prepares the way for designing adaptation actions. This article presents a literature review about the investigations of climate change perception that have been made in Latin America in the last fifteen years (1997-2012) in rural and indigenous communities. In this sense, it was identified and analyzed the methodologies, tools and adaptation strategies reported in perception studies. The results showed that there are three methodological approaches in the perception studies of climate change: (i) quantitative, (ii) qualitative, and (iii) mixed. In addition, the bibliographical research shows that the three main tools used in perception studies are: (i) semi-structured interview (76.9%), (ii) poll (42.3%), and (iii) field observation (30.8%). In this regard, the tools identified are mainly used in the perception studies in farming communities (65.4%) before than in indigenous communities (34.6%). Furthermore, it was identified the following important perceptions: (i) climate variability (94.1%), (ii) temperature increase (91.2%), (iii) changes in precipitation (85.3%), and (iv) change in cultural habits (55.9%). Results suggest that the dominant perception is that there is a change was mainly due to the climatic factor; above, represented by 90.2% of the documents identified. Finally, the strategies for adaptation to climate change in Latin American local communities can be grouped into three categories: (i) agriculture (57.6%), (ii) community (48.1%), and (iii) water (40.4%).

Keywords : Climatic perception; climate change; adaptation strategies; methodological tools.

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