Abstrack:
Climate change has serious consequences, especially for developing countries, which depend strongly on natural resources for food, water and shelter (FAO 2010). The effects of each manifestation of climate change can bring opportunities to some communities and problems to others. Different societies respond to the consequences of climate change according to different patterns of adaptability. Different forms of local adaptation offer examples of how societies innovate in coping with threat, and the interactions between ecosystems and humans become key issues to identify and develop (Takeuchi 2012; Irham 2012). There is a strong relation between adaptation, resilience and sustainability. Resilience is the ability to persist and adapt in order to achieve sustainability. But resilience and sustainability need preemptive action on emerging risks, to avoid vulnerability and to provide ecological integrity (Hahn et al. 2009). Enhancing resilience means increasing communities? adaptability while reducing vulnerability, risk and uncertainty. Acceleration of economic development has a strong relation with the increase of such problems. Many studies have examined the impact of climate change on biological production, water availability, temperature and other factors. But few studies have examined how traditional societies understand climate change and how they are coping with the consequences (Olsson 2003; Takeuchi 2012). This study will contribute to understanding how climate change is defined from different perspectives by examining farmers? experiences of climate change in relation to their farming activities. The objectives of this study were (1) to understand farmers? perceptions of climate change in the upland area, (2) to see how the farmers adapt to cope with climate change. The study was conducted in Wonogiri, in an upland and lowland area.
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