Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability in semi-arid rural southeastern Arizona, USA

The study identifies drought, floods, and frosts as the primary climatic risks for producers in Pima and Cochise Counties, Arizona. While groundwater use remains a critical adaptation strategy despite rising costs, the utility of seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) is limited by low risk tolerance and economic uncertainty. Producers instead rely on past experience and short-range forecasts to hedge against risks, suggesting that access to information is not the primary barrier to improved decision-making.

• Agricultural producers in Pima and Cochise Counties identify drought, floods, and frosts as their primary climatic risks, and they continue to rely on groundwater as a key strategy despite the increase in pumping costs.
• Seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) have limited utility for farmers and ranchers because of low risk tolerance and uncertainty regarding marketing and production conditions; consequently, producers prefer past experience and short-range forecasts to hedge their risks.
• The research concludes that the primary limitation to improving producer decision-making is not a lack of access to information.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (2025). Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability in semi-arid rural southeastern Arizona, USA. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/vulnerability-and-adaptation-to-climate-change-and-variability-in-semi-arid-rural-southeastern-arizona-usa/

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability in semi-arid rural southeastern Arizona, USA. 2025. https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/vulnerability-and-adaptation-to-climate-change-and-variability-in-semi-arid-rural-southeastern-arizona-usa/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability in semi-arid rural southeastern Arizona, USA |date=17 January 2025 |url=https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/vulnerability-and-adaptation-to-climate-change-and-variability-in-semi-arid-rural-southeastern-arizona-usa/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearch2025vulnerability, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and variability in semi-arid rural southeastern Arizona, USA}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://iai.int/es/pub_acad/vulnerability-and-adaptation-to-climate-change-and-variability-in-semi-arid-rural-southeastern-arizona-usa/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }