Perceived changes in daily life complement perceived environmental change in shaping adaptation to environmental change: case study in Senegal

This research develops a new conceptual framework to improve the understanding of adaptation to environmental change, based on farmers’ and pastoralists’ perceptions of both environmental change and change in daily life. A case study in rural Senegal provides a first evaluation of the framework’s relevance. The added value of including perceptions of change in daily life alongside perceptions of environmental change is assessed through logistic regression models exploring links with three types of adaptation strategies: migration, crop-related and livestock-related. Model performance is evaluated using McFadden’s adjusted R² and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). Results show that models combining both types of perception consistently outperform environmental-only models, with McFadden’s R² increasing from 0.07 to 0.11 to 0.16 for migration, from 0.27 to 0.31 for crop adaptation, and from 0.05 to 0.11 for livestock adaptation, alongside systematic AIC reductions exceeding the two-point threshold. Including perceptions of change in daily life therefore improves explanatory power and provides complementary insights into adaptation intentions. These findings suggest that it is beneficial to consider both types of perception when studying adaptation to environmental change.