The social organisation of adaptation to climate variability and global change: The case of a mountain farming community in Norway

Local strategies to manage climate variability are key to adapting to climate change in the long term. We investigate how local adaptive strategies are socially organised through a study of Øystre Slidre, a Norwegian mountain farming community operating close to the climatic margins. Farmers actively use informal social relations in accessing equipment and labour in order to secure production and quality of life. The importance of such relations in managing climate variability persists even with a dramatic shift towards larger scale production, increasing formalisation and economic diversification. Despite social innovations and adaptations such as the re-forming of social relationships and institutions, the concurrent reduction in the number of people involved in farming may be putting the flexibility of social networks and practices of collaboration under pressure, potentially undermining adaptive capacity to climate change. Future research and policy need to focus on ensuring social innovation in the social organisation of adaptation.

► Farmers adapt to climate variability through various forms of collaboration.
► Formal and informal relations and systems of collaboration are interdependent.
► Rapid changes in the agricultural threaten informal relations and adaptive capacity.
► Despite social innovations, a decline in collaboration has social and political impacts.
► Policy needs to ensure social innovation in the social organisation of adaptation.