Adaptation practices to climate change through crisis management: Evidence from farmers in Japan

This study aims to explore how Japanese farmers adapt to climate change-related crises through crisis management. Data were collected from 232 Japanese farmers and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change model was developed based on Mitroff’s crisis management theory. 

The findings indicate that Japanese farmers have a relatively moderate to high perception of climate change, but some farmers exhibit adaptive behavior. The SEM results indicated that adaptation practices are statistically significant drivers for managerial adaptation measures. The perceived severity of specific climate-change-related damage, particularly the financial burden of additional investments, significantly affects the implementation of adaptation measures. Additionally, climate change mitigation practices were incorporated as key components of managerial adaptations. These multifaceted farm managerial adaptations prioritized collective activities and economic approaches. Thus, Japanese farmers currently implement climate change adaptation measures largely on an ad hoc basis rather than through long-term management strategies. Enhancing adaptive capacity and sustainability requires economic preparedness and the institutionalization of past experiences of climate damage into systematic management knowledge.