Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Agriculture Sector; Criteria and Prioritization Technique

The importance of adaptation to climate change in the agricultural sector due to its vulnerable nature to climate risks is more than other economic sectors. Adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector should be designed and applied in a way that reduce losses and also sustain the livelihoods of the vast majority of working households. Due to the existence of different criteria, it is necessary to use decision-making techniques in order to prioritize and ultimately select adaptation strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the criteria and prioritization techniques to identify the most appropriate climate change adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector. This qualitative research was done by content analysis of literature using MAXQDA software to identify criteria, prioritization technique and finally selecting climate change adaptation strategies in the agriculture sector. Based on findings, indicators of climate change adaptation strategies are divided into two main costs and benefits categories. In the cost category, emphasis was on the criteria of the minimum cost of implementation, maintenance, and other costs. Also in the benefits category, the criteria are divided into five sub-categories: institutional-political, environmental, social, economic, and climatic. Based on the results, different methods and techniques have been proposed to prioritize and select appropriate strategies. However, it is not possible to recommend one of them in all situations, but this choice should be made in accordance with the situation, purpose, and level of available information resources. For this purpose, the strengths and weaknesses of the most common methods of prioritization and selection of adaptation mechanisms to climate change are presented. These methods including multi-criteria analysis, hierarchical analysis, economic analysis, and network analysis, have been discussed in this study to better identify and select the most suitable set of strategies.