Farmers' relations to climate variabilities and changes: the case of groundwater users of coastal aquifers in France, Portugal and Morocco

According to experts, climate change is likely to exacerbate quality and quantity water related problems and therefore conflicts between water users. Experts on climate change call for setting adaptation measures to anticipate future crisis. This challenge can be adressed through the development of methods to support water users' capacity to anticipate the future changes based on expert foresight. The invitation to anticipation faces the gap between expert modelling and farmers' experience of climate. While experts use temperatures and rain data, farmers use others criteria as local markers to adapt their practices. While experts talk about evolution of the climate, some farmers talk about weather cycles formerly identified by their ancestors. And, in some cases, while farmers do not express certainties for what concerns the evolution of climate at local level, the scientific and technical discourses also show controversies about the definition of the quantity of water available and about solutions for water scarcity. The communication will present the results of an investigation regarding farmers' relations with regards to the climate conducted simultaneously on three case studies: the Roussillon Aquifer in France, the Querença-Silves Aquifer in Portugal, and the Chaouia Aquifer in Morocco. In the three cases, groundwater management and uses face the degradation of groundwater resources, and climate variability has both a direct impact (groundwater recharge) and an indirect one (amount of water pumped) on groundwater dynamics. The inquiries enables a comparative insight of the three cases around three main axes: i) the indicators used by farmers to describe the climate and its changes, their interpretation of usual signs of the environment or unusual events such as drought and floods, and their opinion vis-à-vis the impacts of climate variability on their farm and on water resources; ii) the way their representations fit with existing data of climate variablity and the way expert discourses make sense for farmers; iii) the way climate influences their practices and actions taken by farmers to adapt to climate variability and changes.