Collective Climate Adaptation among Wetland Smallholder Farmers:  Integrating Bourdieu's Theory of Practice and Climate Justice in Pati, Indonesia

Adi Nugroho

Authors

Adi Nugroho Perkumpulan Institute Samdhana, Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

Keywords:

climate justice, vulnerable communities, smallholder farmers' adaptation, flooding, social capital

Abstract

Global climate change is not merely a biophysical anomaly, but a matter of social justice (climate justice) that disproportionately affects vulnerable communities, particularly small-scale rain-fed rice farmers in developing countries. This article analyzes how the Sido Makmur Farmers’ Group in Baturejo Village, Sukolilo Subdistrict, Pati Regency, Indonesia, copes with seasonal uncertainty and the threat of extreme flooding during the peak of the rainy season. Using descriptive qualitative methods and an ethnographic approach, this study explores the interplay of social capital, economic capital, symbolic capital, and cultural capital in mobilizing collective action such as advancing the planting season through a collective water pumping system. The results indicate that farmers’ adaptive capacity is significantly influenced by local institutional factors and power relations among actors, where the inaccuracy of Seasonal Forecast Information (IPM) from formal authorities drives farmers to rely on local knowledge and the strength of endogenous social capital to survive amid ecological vulnerabilities.

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