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Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action
Despite the increasing availability of scientific information to support climate change decisionmaking for farmers' resilience to the global challenge, a persistent gap exists between knowledge development and its application in decision-making. This is exerting pressure on science to develop more a...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Environmental and Geographical Science
2023
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| _version_ | 1867613208508891136 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Siziba, Bridget |
| author2 | Norton, Marieke |
| author_browse | Norton, Marieke Siziba, Bridget |
| author_facet | Norton, Marieke Siziba, Bridget |
| author_sort | Siziba, Bridget |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Despite the increasing availability of scientific information to support climate change decisionmaking for farmers' resilience to the global challenge, a persistent gap exists between knowledge development and its application in decision-making. This is exerting pressure on science to develop more actionable or decision-relevant scientific information to support planning, and climate change decision-making. In the context of communicating climate change adaptation information, this study examined the usefulness of the Credibility, Salience, and Legitimacy (CSL) framework, otherwise known as the knowledge system framework (Cash et al., 2003), in bridging the disconnect between information production and its use in decision-making by commercial farmers in South Africa's Western Cape Province. The study was underpinned by Cash et al.'s 2003 boundary work theory, which argues that there are boundaries at the science and farmer interface which can be managed by knowledge systems employing the CSL framework in knowledge production. As such, the researcher undertook and examined the Western Cape's agricultural climate change response strategy known as the "SmartAgri" Plan, wherein scientists and agricultural experts developed case studies and regional commodity briefs, a proxy of climate adaptation information, to support farmers' resilience to climate change. The research looked at how these communication outputs are actionable in connection to users' perceptions of the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of this knowledge. The research consisted of an online focus group discussion with four SmartAgri scientists and agricultural experts as the producers of the information, as well as semistructured telephone interviews with 11 Western Cape commercial farmers, as users of climate change adaptation information. Findings from the interviews suggest that while there have been efforts to produce credible knowledge for enhanced awareness of climate change and its impacts on the Western Cape province's agricultural sector, availability of salient and legitimate climate change adaptation information remains a challenge at the science-farmer interface. Factors such as, limited experiential evidence, disparities in the scale and resolution of climate projections, the absence of financial support to commercial farmers and limited involvement of farmers in the development of climate change adaptation information, continue to undermine the actionability of climate change adaptation information in the areas studied. As a result, spanning the boundary between knowledge and action has been a challenge. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, commercial farmers consider climate adaptation information potentially useful. Increased engagement with farmers, demonstrations and trials with farmers, documentation and sharing of local best practices will be some of the key steps towards developing more actionable knowledge for farmers' use in climate change decisionmaking. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38167 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:29.432Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| publisherStr | Department of Environmental and Geographical Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38167 Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action Siziba, Bridget Norton, Marieke Methner Nadine Climate Change and Sustainable Development Despite the increasing availability of scientific information to support climate change decisionmaking for farmers' resilience to the global challenge, a persistent gap exists between knowledge development and its application in decision-making. This is exerting pressure on science to develop more actionable or decision-relevant scientific information to support planning, and climate change decision-making. In the context of communicating climate change adaptation information, this study examined the usefulness of the Credibility, Salience, and Legitimacy (CSL) framework, otherwise known as the knowledge system framework (Cash et al., 2003), in bridging the disconnect between information production and its use in decision-making by commercial farmers in South Africa's Western Cape Province. The study was underpinned by Cash et al.'s 2003 boundary work theory, which argues that there are boundaries at the science and farmer interface which can be managed by knowledge systems employing the CSL framework in knowledge production. As such, the researcher undertook and examined the Western Cape's agricultural climate change response strategy known as the "SmartAgri" Plan, wherein scientists and agricultural experts developed case studies and regional commodity briefs, a proxy of climate adaptation information, to support farmers' resilience to climate change. The research looked at how these communication outputs are actionable in connection to users' perceptions of the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of this knowledge. The research consisted of an online focus group discussion with four SmartAgri scientists and agricultural experts as the producers of the information, as well as semistructured telephone interviews with 11 Western Cape commercial farmers, as users of climate change adaptation information. Findings from the interviews suggest that while there have been efforts to produce credible knowledge for enhanced awareness of climate change and its impacts on the Western Cape province's agricultural sector, availability of salient and legitimate climate change adaptation information remains a challenge at the science-farmer interface. Factors such as, limited experiential evidence, disparities in the scale and resolution of climate projections, the absence of financial support to commercial farmers and limited involvement of farmers in the development of climate change adaptation information, continue to undermine the actionability of climate change adaptation information in the areas studied. As a result, spanning the boundary between knowledge and action has been a challenge. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, commercial farmers consider climate adaptation information potentially useful. Increased engagement with farmers, demonstrations and trials with farmers, documentation and sharing of local best practices will be some of the key steps towards developing more actionable knowledge for farmers' use in climate change decisionmaking. 2023-07-28T07:56:52Z 2023-07-28T07:56:52Z 2023 2023-07-28T07:53:41Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38167 eng application/pdf Department of Environmental and Geographical Science Faculty of Science |
| spellingShingle | Climate Change and Sustainable Development Siziba, Bridget Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| title_full | Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| title_fullStr | Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| title_full_unstemmed | Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| title_short | Building the Western Cape farmers resilience to climate change: assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| title_sort | building the western cape farmers resilience to climate change assessing the usefulness of credibility salience and legitimacy framework in linking climate change adaptation information into action |
| topic | Climate Change and Sustainable Development |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38167 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sizibabridget buildingthewesterncapefarmersresiliencetoclimatechangeassessingtheusefulnessofcredibilitysalienceandlegitimacyframeworkinlinkingclimatechangeadaptationinformationintoaction |