Glacier Melting and Retreat: Understanding the Perception of Agricultural Households That Face the Challenges of Climate Change

Adriana Bernal-Escobar, Rafael Cuervo-Sánchez, Gonzalo Pinzon-Trujillo and Jorge Maldonado

No 149005, 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: In recent years a rise in glaciers equilibrium line, both in Colombia and Latin America has been observed. Glacier melting and retreat lead to a change in the availability of water, which largely affects agriculture, being it responsible for 10-14 percent of Colombian GDP. Using framed economic experimental games we studied the decisions made by farmers that depend on high-mountain water about water use and their response to institutions that facilitate adaptation to climate change. Results show that farmers react to reduction in water availability increasing the use of surface water from districts, ignoring that this source also depends on climatic conditions. When players face the possibility to adapt to climate change, they tend to invest in such strategies but consumption of water is not reduced. From the results, policy recommendations emerge about strategies for facing water scarcity in a climate-change scenario.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Environmental Economics and Policy; Institutional and Behavioral Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41
Date: 2013-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/149005/files/C ... EG%20AAEA%202013.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea13:149005

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.149005

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().