Assessment of climate change adaptation strategies in developing countries: the case of Burkina Faso

Abstract

Purpose. The objective of the study is to assess the sustainability of adaptation strategies promoted by farmers in agroforestry systems in Burkina Faso through the sustainable development analysis guide (SDAG). For this purpose, primary data were collected by the survey method. One hundred and four (104) people were interviewed using a questionnaire. Secondary data were also used. Descriptive statistics and the Excel logical test were used to analyse the collected data.
 Results. The results show that in a context of climate variability, farmers mobilize several strategies such as: proactive, reactive and combined strategies. The adaptation strategy index shows that proactive strategies are strongly used, followed by combined proactive strategies, reactive strategies and silvicultural techniques. However, the first three strategies are used more by farmers. Moreover, the evaluation of the strategies used by farmers was based on the first three strategies. It was found that proactive and combined strategies are more sustainable than reactive ones, as farmers have difficulties in assessing the climate risks they face. Thus, the environmental component of sustainable development is strongly impacted by reactive strategies, which is reflected in the low weighting of respondents and experts.
 Scientific novelty. The novelty is the use of the sustainable development analysis guide, which allows the sustainability of farmers’ adaptation strategies to be assessed. The tool made it possible to compare the results of field survey and the opinions of experts (through a literature review) with dimensions of sustainable development (social, economic, environmental). Thus, for each dimension, variables and indicators were associated. Thanks to the tool, the results were achieved.
 Practical value. The advantage of this approach is that sustainability assessment can be done through empirical data (from surveys). This is important for developing countries such as Burkina Faso where assessments based on economic techniques are difficult, as the rural population is mostly illiterate.