| Abstrakt: |
The interrelationship between vulnerability and climate change is understudied. Through this research, we fill this relative gap using rural Nevada as a case study. In 2009/2010, we surveyed 1872 ranchers and farmers, investigating their climate change-related assumptions, experiences, knowledge bases, and policy preferences. Almost 26 % responded to our mail-based survey. We created a climate change vulnerability index as a function of physical vulnerability, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity and applied it for every respondent using demographic data from the survey and secondary Geographical Information System-based data on water availability and use, and population. In our research, we investigate the influence of vulnerability and its components on climate change mitigation policy support. The results show that vulnerability is an insignificant determinant of supporting climate change mitigation policies. Both physical vulnerability and adaptive capacity play no role in determining climate change mitigation policy support. However, sensitivity to climate change decreases support of stringent policies (i.e., taxation policies), but does not influence support of non-stringent policies (i.e., technological fixes). The most prominent determinants of climate change mitigation policy support are beliefs regarding the anthropogenic causes of climate change, beliefs regarding the causal relationship between drought and climate change in Nevada, and political orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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