This thesis aims to understand some of the effects of changes in intra-seasonal climate variability
on household livelihoods in the Peruvian Andes. Concerns about the effects of climate change on
the sustainability of Andean agricultural systems and, in general, concerns about the ability of rural
households to adapt to increasing climate uncertainty motivate this thesis. The first study focuses
on household decisions over crop portfolio diversification as a response to increasing climate
variability. The study investigates whether Andean farmers respond by increasing crop diversity
(measured by intercropping and crop diversification indices) or by switching to crops that better
tolerate diverse environmental conditions. Based on fixed effects models that use a district panel
of 1994 and 2012 agrarian censuses, the study finds that households in colder areas (<11˚C during
the crop growing season) adapt to increases in climate variability by concentrating their portfolio
into more tolerant crops and reducing intercropping (a practice potentially efficient at controlling
pest and disease). This effect is especially strong in the Southern region (more indigenous, less
integrated to markets). Taking a broader approach, the second study focuses on Andean rural
households in general, investigating whether households adapt to increasing climate variability by
concentrating more into non-farm income generating activities (relative to farm activities), and
whether spatially distant family networks facilitate this adaptive strategy. Six economic outcomes
are modeled in this study: non-farm income shares, non-farm working hours share, farm and nonfarm
income levels, and farm and non-farm working hours. Based on generalized linear models
that use household information representative of rural provinces of the Andean region, the study
finds that households adapt differently across the region. While households in the colder areas of
the Central and Northern Andes (below 13˚C during the crop growing season) tend to increase
non-farm income as climate variability increases, households in the South show no discernible
response. The study results suggest that spatially distant family networks facilitate non-farm
opportunities to households facing increasing temperature variability in the Central and Southern
Andes. This thesis complements previous studies by providing robust and regionally representative
evidence on households’ nonlinear response to climate variability. Furthermore, given that Andean
households received little-to-no help to adapt to climate change during the period under analysis,
this study informs about household autonomous adaptation to climate change and raises concerns
on current adaptation responses that may hamper the sustainability of Andean household
livelihoods in the face of climate change.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PUCP/oai:tesis.pucp.edu.pe:20.500.12404/17542 |
| Date | 24 November 2020 |
| Creators | Ponce San Román, Carmen María |
| Contributors | Iguíñiz Echeverría, Javier María, Escobal D'Angelo, Javier Alfredo |
| Publisher | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, PE |
| Source Sets | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |
| Language | Spanish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/pe/ |
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