TY - BOOK AU - Senaratne, Athula TI - Shared beliefs, expectations and surprises: adaptation decisions of village tank farmers in Sri Lanka PY - 2013/// CY - (Unpublished) KW - Climate adaptation KW - Farmers KW - Sri Lanka KW - Agriculture N1 - (Unpublished thesis) N2 - Abstract: Global climate change could have far-reaching consequences for farming communities, particularly in developing countries. Rain-fed farmers, such as village tank farmers in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, are among the most vulnerable because they depend heavily on local rainfall and have limited means to adapt. While adaptation has been the key strategy to help generations of farmers overcome climate uncertainty, it essentially involves regular, risky decisions on adaptation options. Some researchers have proposed that experience gained from repeated choices help farmers make better adaptation decisions. However, recent advances in decision theory suggest that the cognitive limitations of decision-makers and the ambiguity associated with rainfall variability limit the usefulness of personal experience as a reliable guide for making adaptation decisions. Conversely, a significant body of empirical literature on climate adaptation has provided evidence to indicate that farmers’ adaptation decisions are strongly influenced by their commonly held beliefs UR - http://econspace.ips.lk/handle/789/52 ER -