Abstract:
Climate change has evolved from its natural science origins to become simultaneously a physical and a social phenomenon. While climate change can be measured, quantified and modelled through physical data, it can also be perceived through social lenses mediated by individual and collective realities. Similarly, vulnerability to climate change can be understood through bio-physical and social frames, in which the present study employs a contextual vulnerability frame which is a social constructionist research paradigm with a qualitative methodology. Since Meghalaya has a fragile ecosystem wherein its economy depends on the climate sensitive sectors like agriculture, forestry, etc.; the hardworking farmers of this state are facing the risk of constant changes in agricultural production and productivity, unsustainable livelihoods, threats to food security, migration, vanishing threats of AEK etc. To understand how farmers are vulnerable to climate change, the present research was conducted in 3 ACZs of Meghalaya viz., Temperate, Sub-tropical and Tropical zones, from which three districts, three blocks and nine villages were sampled, further through proportionate random sampling a total of 120 respondents were selected for the study with the following objectives: (i) To assess the Level of Awareness of farmers on climate change in agriculture, (ii) To ascertain farmers‘ Contextual Vulnerability of climate change in different ACZs of Meghalaya and (iii) To document and analyse AEK for adaptation and mitigation to climate change. The study revealed that the socio-personal-economic, communication and psychological profiles of majority of the respondents were in the middle category. Maximum percentage (42.50%) of respondents in the study belonged to the medium Level of Awareness. Tropical zone was ranked first in term of Contextual Vulnerability followed by Sub-tropical zone and Temperate zone. More than fifty percent of the respondents in Temperate (51.35%), Sub-tropical (51.22%) and Tropical (54.76%) zones belonged to ‗Less Vulnerable‘, ‗Moderately Vulnerable‘and ‗Highly Vulnerable‘categories respectively. The result for the test for independence showed that there was significant difference in the level of Contextual Vulnerability among the three ACZs and the strength of independence was ascertained to be medium. The correlation analysis found out that Level of Education, Scientific Orientation, Innovativeness, Risk Orientation and Level of Awareness had significant negative correlation, while Age had significant positive correlation with contextual vulnerability. A suit of 20 items of AEK were collected, documented and analysed. The AEK were categorised into three domains viz., Natural Resource Management, Weather Forecasting and Crop Protection domains. Further, the AEK were found to be mostly zone specific with Sub-tropical being the ACZ which had maximum numbers of AEK.
Keywords: Agro-Climatic Zone, Agro-Ecological Knowledge, Climate Change, Contextual Vulnerability.

Includes bibliographical references.