Farmers’ beliefs and concerns about climate change, and their adaptation behavior to combat climate change in Saudi Arabia

number of the famers in the present study believe that natural changes are the main driver of climate change. This suggests that there could be regional differences in farmers’ beliefs about the causes of climate change that in turn may have an impact on their potential adaptation actions. Saudi Arabia is one of those counties that have ratified Paris Agreement and is actively involved in the implementation of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over the years, the government has launched media comp campaigns at the national level for creating awareness among the general public about the issue of climate change and its drivers. This might be the reason behind differences in beliefs of the farmers about climate change of the Eastern Province. Farmers’ beliefs about climate change are also in line with the current scientific consensus regarding ongoing climate change, which also forms the basis of international agreement like Paris Climate Agreement. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a credible body of international scientists and researchers, maintains that ongoing climate change is a real threat to humankind and the main drivers behind this change are the anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions [42]. Major anthropogenic activities that substantially release GHGs to the atmosphere and are potentially disruptive to human beings include: fossil fuel burning; transport sector; industrial processes; and, agriculture, forestry and other land- use changes including deforestation [42,58,59].

Farmers’ concerns about the potential impacts of climate change are thought to originate from the risk associated with extreme weather events such as heat waves, drought, floods and cyclones [31,54,60]. The real nature and extent of the concerns may vary based on the level of exposure to such risks. Due to greater awareness about climate change worldwide, concern about the impacts of climate change have also increased [61]. The findings of the current study reveal that major concerns of the farmers are: drought, insects, crop diseases and heat stress. Personal observations of the farmers also suggest that they have witnessed a long-term increase in temperature, and a long-term decrease in rainfall and crop productivity over the last 15 years. Agriculture is highly vulnerable to climatic variability. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns will have a considerable impact on crop production globally. Climate change limits our capacity to maintain current levels of agricultural productivity [45]. There is a general con- sensus that over the last few decades average temperature in the Kingdom has risen. A recent study reported that a 1.9 degree Celsius increase in temperature was observed during the last 50 years. Moreover, It is projected that KSA will experience a 3–5 degree Celsius increase in temperature by the end of this century [25,27]. This would in turn significantly increase the irrigation water requirements of different crops grown in the Kingdom [35]. According to one study, there would be a 5–15% increase in water demand to maintain current production levels

[26]. The projected increase in temperature could negatively affect the production of most of the crops by 5–25% [5,36]. A study argued that in the future, climate for date palm production might not be suitable in some parts of the Kingdom [34]. Saudi Arabia has been classified as a water-scarce nation along with other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by the United Nations (UN) [29]. The Kingdom has very limited underground water resources; there are no permanent rivers. Unlike temperature, a significant change in rainfall was not observed during last 50 years [23]. Future precipitation projections however suggest a decrease in rain- fall in many parts of Saudi Arabia [27,28]. This increases the vulnerability of the nation to adverse effects of climate change. The agriculture sector will be seriously affected in the King- dom [23,31–34]. Drought is a significant driver of land degradation and its severity and spatial patterns will be greatly influenced by future greenhouse gas emissions [62–64]. Temperature and rainfall patterns also influence the population dynamics of insects and pests, crop diseases, weeds, and soil erosion. Global warming could exacerbate these threats by PLOS ONE Adaptation of climate change among farmers PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280838 January 25, 2023 12 / 20