Analyzing adaptation strategies to climate change followed by the farming community of the Indian Sunderbans using Analytical Hierarchy Process

Abstract

Climate change has been recognized, globally, as the most pressing critical issue affecting, adversely, survival of the mankind in the twenty-first century. The continuous rise of the sea-level due to global warming is likely to have a devastating impact on the Sundarbans, a 'World Heritage Site', deltaic complex, albeit highly prone to extreme and/or adverse climatic events including disasters. Accordingly, keeping in view this issue, the present study was designed to understand the multi-criterion decision-making ability vis-à-vis adoption of different adaptation strategies among the farming community of the Indian Sundarbans. A total of 120 farmers, who were growing crops, rearing livestock, apart from being involved in fisheries, simultaneously, were selected from 5 blocks of the Indian Sundarbans. The study revealed 19 adaptation strategies followed by the farmers of the said locality. Further, to trace the best adaptation strategy, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used. Based on the intensity of importance of one adaptation strategy over another, the most substantial one was found to be "Practicing of Integrated Farming System".