Looking into individual choices and local realities to define adaptation options to drought and climate change

Abstract

Climate change adaptation choices defined by local communities reflect individual risk perception and contextual factors. This study examines how local contextual environmental factors contribute to individual choices for adapting to water scarcity in three locations in central Spain. The study evaluates citizens' choices by audience segmentation and explore the role of geographical location in segments' engagement with adaptation and adaptation measure preference. The results of the analysis of the effect of local experience support the findings of other studies that suggest that local experience is linked to risk perception but does not necessarily drive adaptive behaviour. The results suggest that respondents from most degraded areas show a higher local risk perception, but do not show homogeneous commitment to adaptation. The results also indicate differences over adaptation measure preferences across locations. Respondents of less degraded areas have a lower risk perception and show individualistic responses as compared to respondents in water stressed communities. These results highlight the relevance of local experience-driven risk perception in support to adaptation actions. Spain exemplifies many countries in southern Europe and North Africa, where drought is already a challenge to society and it is affecting an increasing number of people.

Keywords: Adaptation; Audience segmentation; Climate change; Drought; Latent profile analysis; Risk perception.