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ResumoEste artigo tem por objetivos testar a aplicabilidade da teoria da sociedade de risco de Ulrich Beck para a sociedade brasileira contemporânea e analisar a distribuição social da percepção de risco associada às mudanças climáticas e ao aquecimento global. Para tanto, é feita uma revisão de teorias de risco, além de uma discussão crítica de sua aplicação ao caso das mudanças climáticas. Em seguida são apresentados resultados de pesquisa, verificando o efeito de diferentes variáveis sociodemográficas na percepção de risco. Os dados advêm de pesquisa de opinião pública em território nacional, com amostra estratificada por conglomerados. O principal resultado alcançado diz respeito à homogeneidade da percepção de risco, por meio de diferentes categorias sociais ou contextos geográficos. As únicas categorias que apresentaram influências significativas na avaliação da percepção de risco foram renda familiar e escolaridade, ambas com relação positiva. AbstractThis article aims to test the applicability of the Risk Society Theory proposed by Ulrich Beck for the contemporary Brazilian society, and to analyze its social distribution of risk perception associated with climate change and global warming. To do so, it reviews risk theories and discusses critically its application to the case of climate change. It presents then the results of the poll, which checked the effect of different socio-demographic variables on risk perception. The data come from public opinion poll in national scale, with stratified cluster sample. The main result achieved regards the homogeneity of risk perception across different social categories or geographical contexts. The only socio-demographic categories that showed significant influences on the assessment of risk perception were household income and education, both with a positive relationship.

Risk perceptions influence individual and collective adaptive responses to climate hazards. Up to now, the majority of literature addressing climate change perception and adaptation has been location-specific. Such an approach is limited with respect to the construction of a generalized theory around why and how people perceive and act towards climate change risks. This chapter seeks to contribute to overcome this limitation by offering a cross-sectional study of climate change risks perceptions among smallholder farmers settled in three contrasting biomes in Brazil: the Amazon (rainforest); the Caatinga (semi-arid); and the Cerrado (savanna). By articulating regional, local and micro scales of comparison, common traits in the perception of climate variability are identified. It is not intended, at this stage, to validate particular theories of climate change, but rather to contribute to a better understanding of climate change as a trans-regional and socially embedded environmental phenomenon. This study shows that, in spite of existing perceptive barriers, smallholders settled in dramatically different contexts share perceptions about risks linked to the following phenomena: (i) changes in the timing of seasons, (ii) decrease in rainfall levels; (iii) temperature rises. Moreover, there are specific adaptation strategies to climate change, like the timing of seeding, which appear to be addressed independently by smallholders of the three biomes. Public policies intended to support adaptive measures and the increase of food security must take subjective risk perception into account within the cultural and environmental contexts of the actors involved.

This gallery is one of the results of fieldwork conducted in the Brazilian semi-arid region between 2011 and 2013, in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Piauí and Ceará. Around 1,140 family farmers were interviewed. The four case studies were selected through a combination of socioeconomic and climate characteristics, in order to compose a representative sample of the micro-regional vulnerabilities of the region. This project was carried out as a part of the Brazilian Research Network on Global Climate Change’s sub-network dealing with Climate Change and Regional Development. The focus on smallholder farming in Brazil’s Northeast is important because this sector is highly sensitive to climate stimuli, has a weak capacity to deal with and prevent impacts of climate variability, and is an important source of food production in Brazil., Esta galeria é fruto de dois anos de pesquisas de campo conduzidas no Semiárido nordestino. Entre 2011 e 2013, cerca de 1,140 mil produtores rurais familiares foram entrevistados nos estados da Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, Piauí e Ceará (ver mapa) pela equipe de Desenvolvimento Regional e Mudanças Climáticas da Rede Brasileira de Mudanças Cimaticas - Rede Clima.