An Ecosystem Approach to Indicate Agriculture Adaptive Strategies to Climate Change Impacts

Abstract

Agriculture is a very exposed activity to climate change, since it is dependent of weather conditions. This study presents some results concerning the implementation of an integrated and multidimensional methodology related to alternatives to adapt to the impact of climate change—Ecosystem-based Adaptation—EbA. Such approach provides profiles with opportunities, limitations and contexts for adaptive technologies implementation. Furthermore, the approach is aligned to ecosystem services (ES), which are also considered in the creation of the adaptation technologies profiles. The case study is the Pito Aceso watershed, located in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro State—Brazil. This area is a typical landscape of this region, with a mosaic of land use types and steep relief. It was possible to identify the potential areas to ES provision, as well as, the agricultural practices with the highest ability to adaptation to the impacts of climate change.