Livestock Breeders’ Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change in Morocco’s Arid Rangelands

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Abstract Since the mid-1970s, the high plateaus of eastern Morocco have experienced proven trends of climate change (CC) such as a significant decrease in rainfall amounts and an increase in the droughts’ frequency. Consequently, the CC threatens the sustainability of this pastoral ecosystem and negatively affects the breeding of small ruminants, the main local-level livelihood, which becomes more vulnerable due to its high dependence on climatic conditions. This article aims to analyze breeders’ adaptation practices by taking into account their social stratification based on the size of the sheep flock in possession. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests to examine the differences in the adoption’ frequency of CC adaptation measures according breeders’ classes and Chi-square independence test to identify the factors explaining these observed differences. The analysis of local adaptation practices reveals that they are endogenous but above all curative, aiming at a short-term logic and have a low to medium relevance compared to the specific objective of adaptation to CC. In addition, there are significant differences in the frequency of adoption of CC adaptation strategies (chi-square value = 8.1112, p = 0.017, df = 2) within categories of breeders, in particular between small and larger breeders (U statistic = 58.000, p = 0.008). The significant factors explaining these differences are socioeconomic (age, household size, equipment, training, and membership of a basic professional organization). It is therefore recommended to target small breeders as a priority and to set up support measures (equipment, training, funding, organization of breeders).

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