Abstract:
In the Philippines which is considered one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, it is projected that changes in rainfall pattern, frequency and intensity of typhoons, temperature, dry spells, and sea level will to exert further pressure on agricultural production particularly and livelihoods of farmers generally. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is endeavouring to increase the accessibility of its products of climate information to farmers in order to help them to better cope with this increased climate variability and climatic changes. At the same time it has recently come to recognise the value of local knowledge for climate prediction and has encouraged local farmers to use their own local climate knowledge as a complement to its products of climate information. Yet, actions for the formal institutionalisation of this local knowledge have not been taken. It is argued that the actions taken by farmers in response to the climate information (including technical advisories and recommendations) they receive are influenced by a range of factors or constraints, such as lack of land, credit, inputs, tenure security, market, and information, which thereby require appropriate top-down supports. This study examines the integration of sources of climate knowledge (i.e. local and scientific) and actions (i.e. top-down supports and bottom-up initiatives) within coconut farming communities which are chosen because of their vulnerable state. A theoretical framework, which is a road map for how local and scientific climate knowledge as well as top-down and bottom-up actions can be integrated for strengthening farmers’ livelihoods and their preparedness, is proposed and used as a guideline to investigate the key problems raised from the research objective above. A case study approach using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods is adopted for data collection. Though the study shows that the integration of local and scientific climate knowledge only occurs spontaneously at individual level and the integration of top-down and bottom-up actions is implemented ineffectively, it raises a need for as well as a possibility of the integration of knowledge and actions to be conducted at community level or higher.