Ecosystem-based Adaptation(EbA) Practices In Smallholder Agriculture System Of Pakistan

The Green Revolution led to a quantum leap in food production and bolstered world food security.However,200 TgY-1 fertilizers and 3 TgY-1(1 Tg=1012g)pesticides used in the world for agriculture production along with depletion of the agricultural natural resource base.Pakistan was at the forefront of the adoption of green revolution technologies and agriculture production increased rapidly in the past few decades.However,the intensive crop production also resulted in environmental pollution and degradation of the resource base,jeopardizing future agriculture production.In order to meet growing food demand due to a rapid increase in population and income,farmers in Pakistan must double food production by 2050,a challenge made even more daunting due to climate change and increasing competition for land,water,and energy.Considering the growing concerns of elevated GHG emissions,the complex availability,and economics of fossil fuels,environmental deterioration and health conditions,the sustainable intensification of agriculture production is emerging as a priority for policymakers,particularly,after the implementation of UN 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)and Paris Climate Agreement.Most studies on climate adaptation tend to focus on technological adaptation and conventional agriculture practices which mainly rely on monoculture.However,besides growing interest,limited research studies are available on sustainable adaptation options and studies which specifically explored ecosystem-based adaptation approaches are scarce.This is the first research study which particularly addresses the current situation and problems in smallholder agriculture system,how conventional agriculture approaches resulted in increasing trends of GHG emissions,ecosystem degradation and diversification in per capita food availability.How ecosystem-based adaptation(EbA)options can simultaneously deal with the issues of ecosystem degradation,and climate change.How commonly these strategies are used by smallholder farmers of Pakistan and what factors influence their use?In light of the above questions,this research study will fill the research gap by systematically and comprehensively investigating the options of sustainable agriculture practices with a focus on ecosystem-based adaptation(EbA)practices.As the ecosystem-based adaptation(EbA)is relatively a new concept,this study first defines and review the relevant concepts and theories as well as has summary and comments on the available research in Pakistan and the World.The result was a multi-method research study,which alternated between systematic mapping,in-depth inquiry into data-rich cases and interaction with relevant experts and smallholder farmers.This study uses three types of research data i.e.Secondary data from FAOSTAT,Agriculture Statistics of Pakistan and other sources,a survey of agriculture experts from relevant departments of Pakistan and a household survey from three agroecologieal zones of Pakistan.Based on summing up and investigating the trends in crop diversification,related issues of ecosystem degradation and changes in per capita food availability in the presence of increasing trends of climate extremes,we can preliminary conclude the need for ecosystem-based agriculture approaches in smallholder agriculture system of Pakistan.Next,by using the Delphi technique,we identified current EbA practices which are expected to be used in the smallholder fanning system.Then by a survey of 360 smallholder farmers,we identified the use and characteristics of EbA practices in three districts/AEZs of Pakistan.Based on the household survey,the study analyses the factors that influenced farmers adaptation decisions by using a double hurdle empirical model.Finally,we used multiple mediation models for assessing how local limiting factors play a mediating role in the adoption of EbA strategies.We discussed five novel approaches in order to better understand and extend the existing knowledge of EbA practices.Major results are as follows.(1)The study identified the linkage between conventional agriculture system with the issues of ecosystem degradation and dietary diversity in Pakistan.The results show that agricultural production in Pakistan increased significantly,however,the question arises that whether these achievements were sustainable from the environmental and social perspective.The findings of the analysis revealed that in the past few decades the agriculture in Pakistan become less diversified which resulted in the loss of biodiversity,GHG emissions,ecosystem degradation such as deforestation,land degradation,and water pollution.About,6.7%of the cultivated area is under severe salinity and 13.8%under waterlogging.Similarly,40%of the forest area converted mainly for agriculture(48%).Additionally,GHG emissions from the agricultural sector increasing significantly and account for 43%of total GHG emissions in Pakistan.Further,agriculture policy during the past few decades resulted in an increase of cereal crops and government policies such as crop-specific subsidies3 support prices,irrigation infrastructure resulted in less diversified agriculture system and mainly dominated by few cash and cereal crops.The analysis shows that less diversified agriculture system also leading to stagnation of per capita food supply which remains between 2100-2400 kcal/capita in the past 5 decades and the majority of the population is facing the issue of food insecurity and malnutrition.Similarly,fertilizer and pesticide use is significantly increasing.Management of these risks associated with losses in agricultural biodiversity will be useful in the sustainability of the food production system and will be essential in efforts to attain Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement.These results suggest the promotion of Ecosystem-based Adaptation(EbA)approaches in the future.(2)We identified the strategies which are based on the management of ecosystem services in the agriculture system.This was done by a synopsis of already available literature,which specifically addresses ecosystem-based adaptation strategies.Many areas of science regularly require experts for technical inputs.The Delphi technique was used to analyze such expert-based knowledge.Using a survey of 53 experts from the agriculture research department,scientists and extension officers,we identified 10 EbA strategies which were expected to use by smallholder fanners in Pakistan.The EbA strategies identified by experts are crop diversification strategies(crop rotation,intercropping,home gardens and greenfield strips),the soil and water conservation strategies(Terraces,Zero or minimum tillage and contour planting),tree plantation strategies(Dispersed trees,live fencing,and agroforestry on bared land).These EbA strategies have multiple benefits for smallholder agriculture system such as increase in income/production,adaptation,mitigation,and biodiversity.These EbA strategies are specifically important for Pakistan due to local environmental conditions and climatic externalities.On the basis of the information by expert survey and focused group discussions we conducted a household survey of 360 smallholder farmers.(3)The research survey of 360 households conducted in three districts of Pakistan shows that smallholder farmers are using a number of EbA practices according to their available knowledge.The results show that there are large heterogeneities in use of EbA practices.The smallholder farmers in district Mansehra use more EbA practices than Gujranwala and Thatta.The farmers in Mansehra reported high number of tree plantation as fencing of fields,agroforestry on bared land and dispersed trees.In district Gujranwala,farmers use more contours and crop rotations.In district Thatta,farmers plant trees which serve as windbreaker from coastal winds and storms.In district,Thatta and Gujranwala farmers perceive more issues of salinity,waterlogging,decrease in crop production and insect pests attack due to ecosystem degradation.This may be due to intensive agriculture practices in these two districts.However,in district Mansehra,agriculture is comparatively sustainable and farmers perceive fewer issues of water pollution and a limited number of farmers perceive the issue of salinity and waterlogging.The results show that these adaptation strategies have given benefit to farmers by increasing crop production through increasing soil organic matter,nitrogen fixation through intercropping and biological control of insect pests.Similarly,tree plantation largely reduced soil erosion,served as shed and windbreaker.Similarly,these adaptation strategies reduced the use of synthetic inputs and excessive fertilizer use.(4)We used a double hurdle model for adoption and intensity of adaptation of EbA strategies.The results show that farmers socioeconomic characteristics,social capital,and institutional access play a significant role in farmers decision of adaptation and intensity of adoption.Farmers past experience of extreme weather events increased the probability of adoption by 23.7%and intensity of adoption by 18.5%.Farmer's social capital such as membership in community groups increased the probability of adoption by 27.3%and intensity of adoption by 36.8%.Similarly,farmers access to agriculture extension and weather information increased adoption by 12.5 and 14.2 percent respectively.Interestingly,farmers access to government-subsidized tree nurseries increased the probability of adoption by 27.3%.Further,EbA strategies are cost-effective and hence there is no significant effect of farmers access to agricultural credit on adaptation decisions.The results show that a very limited number of farmers have access to forrmal institutions and farmers rely more on information and knowledge from informal sources of social networks.Further,farmers consider their successful colleague as an expert due to their practical experience in the same condition and their trust in these sources motivate adaptation behavior.(5)We take a pragmatic view that farmers have most control of local ecological processes,hence their options for defending themselves from threats and for using opportunities for transformation will mainly rest at the local level.Because farmers usually struggle to overcome these limiting factors(e.g.salinity,water logging,water availability)in a particular agroecological system and their attitude have high cognitive availability.Hence farmers adaptation to these limiting factors increase their adaptive capacity before facing any expected climate shock.These limiting factors of degraded ecosystems mediate the relationship between past climate experience and adaptation options.In order to find the mediating effect,we used the method of factor analysis.Hayes mediation method(Hayes process Macro in SPSS)was used for analysis in this study.These results also demonstrate the applicability of Liebig law of minimum(limiting factors of ecosystem degradation)and Psychological distance theory(Concerns of closest factors).The study shows significant indirect effects on the adoption of EbA strategies such as(0.375,for agroforestry,0.223 for diversification strategies and 0.312 for soil and water conservation strategies.The results show that farmers personal experience of climate change have been translated through their closest limiting factors and these future concerns affects their behavior for adaptive capacity.Several conclusions can emerge from the above analysis such as agriculture system of Pakistan is facing enormous challenges of climate change and degradation of agricultural natural resources mainly due to inappropriate agricultural practices.These issues could be addressed by using EbA strategies,however,the use of multiple EbA strategies may be helpful for larger benefits,currently,on average 2.45 EbA strategies were used by farmers.The finding reveals that farmers have little access to formal institutions and resources that could be one of the reasons for low adaptation measures.Further,the use of EbA strategies varies across three agroecological zones.The use of diversification strategies depends on the possibility of alternative crops according to the location specific climatic and social context.Similarly,the use of agroforestry strategies depends on the availability of tree plants and farmers awareness.Further,soil and water conservation strategies depend on climatic and environmental factors.Beside farmers experience of extreme weather events,farmers social capital and institutional access are the major factors contributing to fanners adaptation behavior.The services of social networks are promising;however,the current institutional system is not sufficiently supporting farmers in enhancing adaptive capacity.Further,the findings reveal that a better understanding of climatic and environmental factors affect the propensity of restoring the degraded ecosystems.Similarly,farmers have more concerns about local factors of environmental degradation,it is likely that a farm's limiting factor will be the single greatest adaptation issue for farmers in the future.Although this study gives baseline information and analysis,however,our survey is limited to three districts/AEZs with limited sample size,hence,future research studies should be conducted in other AEZs in order to extend these results.Although a growing number of research studies and international organizations reports(FAO,UNFCCC,World Bank,IUCN)addressed the importance of Ecosystem-based Adaptation(EbA)approaches,however,the existing knowledge is not enough particularly at the field level and resource constraint farming systems to inform policymakers to scale up EbA strategies.This research study extends the existing knowledge by specifically addressing the current issues and need for EbA strategies in smallholder agriculture.Secondly,most of the research studies investigated EbA approaches in response to climate change and extreme weather events,and neglected the issues of ecosystem degradation,however,this study analyzed simultaneous adaptation to climate change and ecosystem degradation.Further,the available research studies only considered single adaptation strategies such as agroforestry and crop diversification.However,the present research study used all the existing EbA strategies adopted by farmers.Finally,this research study is the first of its kind,which analyzed the role of farmers social capital and institutional access in farmers adaptation behavior.The results of this study will be helpful for policynakers to make decisions for the scientific transformation of the current system.If these strategies are fully adopted with scientific knowledge and technologies,the benefits will be high for economic development,environmental sustainability,food security,and climate resilience.This is the first research study on irrigated agriculture system and findings of this research are likely to be applicable in other regions and countries with similar socio-economic or climatic factors.Based on the finding of this research study,the specific policy recommendations are as follows.(1)The government should foramulate effective regional agricultural policies based on local level research and revise agricultural extension structure in order to incorporate need-based services with better dissemination of information and farm level training.The role of social networks is very important,further policies should promote and strengthen these networks by the formation of village level formal cooperatives network and should support these cooperatives via local extension and research department.(2)The possibility of agriculture diversification is higher in Pakistan.Realizing this fact,the sustainable development policies should first identify locational diversification and production potential through land suitability analysis and this should be followed by the promotion of location-specific high-value crops including multipurpose tree plantations.(3)The national climate change adaptation policies should consider the local environmental factors such as salinity,water logging and loss of natural vegetation and should facilitate fan1ers through awareness,training,water scheduling and incentives to overcome these issues.If these issues were not timely addressed,these issues will become higher concerns for agriculture production in the future.(4)EbA strategies have importance for both adaptation and mitigation,hence their promotion could be helpful for developing and low-income countries for possible financial support under the Paris Climate Agreement and can be helpful in achieving some targets of sustainable development goals.