Structural Vulnerability and Situated Adaptation of Farm Families to Climate Change: An Empirical Investigation of Zanjan Province

The heavy reliance of rural households on basic natural resources has increased their vulnerability to climate change. To mitigate the climate change impacts and enhance rural livelihoods' sustainability, adaptation to this phenomenon is imperative. A survey research was conducted to investigate the vulnerability and adaptation of farm families to climate change to identify major determinants of their adaptation and vulnerability to climate change in Zanjan Province. The data was collected through a questionnaire, and a multi-stage stratified random sampling method was used to select the samples (n = 304). The findings revealed low, moderate, and high levels of vulnerability to climate change. However, 87.5% of farm families were differentiated as the moderately or highly vulnerable to climate change. Factors including ecological, economic and regional constraints, the productivity-vulnerability paradox, the reduction of human capital, and health risks have intensified the vulnerability of farm families to climate change. Further, farm families have adopted a combination of preventive, absorptive, and adaptive strategies. However, preventive and adaptive strategies were less practiced by highly vulnerable farm families. While situated adaptation has been ignored by the majority of farm families, perceived self-efficacy, education, household size, perceived adaptation efficacy, perceived adaptation costs, and perceived climate change probability were the main determinants of adaptation to climate change.