Rural sustainable livelihood resilience to climate change: A strategic analysis

Abstract

Due to excessive dependence on the climate, the villagers have experienced the greatest effects of climate change in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to increase their resilience against the effects of climate change by adopting measures. The current descriptive and exploratory research was conducted with the aim of conducting a strategic analysis of the resilience of sustainable rural livelihoods against climate change using SWOT technique. The statistical population included 21 subject specialists. The sampling method was purposeful. The results obtained included 27 strengths (final coefficient = 4.032), 39 weaknesses (final coefficient = 3.723), 21 opportunities (final coefficient = 3.940) and 20 threats (final coefficient = 3.410). The SWOT matrix indicated that the dominant strategy is in the SO (offensive) area. In this regard, four offensive strategies were proposed including: SO1 (S1, S8, O3, O7: Using the technical ability of leading farmers and gardeners in educational and extension activities), SO2 (S2, O2, O10: Empowerment of extension developers by providing continuous at-services training to climate change), SO3 (S3, O5, O7: Using press media to inform farmers about climate change) and SO4 (S7, O7: Increase the connection between the extension system and research centers and paying serious attention to the issue of adapting to climate change). In the following, some strategies were determined for three other strategic areas including WO (conservative), ST (competitive) and WT (defensive). The proposed strategies can be used by policy makers in the field of rural development and agriculture.