Fostering a climate-resilient agri-food sector: Untangling and understanding Ukraine’s post-Soviet hurdle

Recently, the United Nations announced that the annual average concentration of atmospheric carbon would pass 400 ppm and scientists warned that catastrophic climate change would soon be unavoidable. Three facets to addressing climate change exist: lessening impacts through greenhouse gas reduction, adapting to impacts that cannot be avoided and improving capacity by developing sustainably. Experts argue that fostering climate-resilient development pathways integrate all three facets thereby providing the strongest response through a triple-win. Yet, typically each aspect has been treated as a distinct response and studied separately. As such, insufficient research exists about the process of building resilience and the possible interactions between each of the facets. This research examined Ukraine’s agri-food sector to begin to fill this large gap in understanding how to build climate-resilience. A case study approach works best when aiming to understand context-dependent processes such as development pathways. Systems methodology provided a framework for understanding possible interactions. All three facets of addressing climate change were integrated into a single process by modifying the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) to include planned adaptation and mitigation. The SLF was then used to create a semi-structured plan for interviewing farmers and stakeholders. An iterative participant-driven approach including grounded theory and Q method allowed for multiple perspectives to be considered and allowed for exploration of an under researched topic. The research finding revealed that factors such as corruption, land tenancy, trust and a perceived inability to work together function as barriers to building resilience. Moreover, learning from both international and domestic projects helped to build resilience. The development of agricultural cooperatives within Ukraine has the potential to create a cycle of improved social networks and learning, thereby enhancing climate-resilience. These findings complement other studies that highlight the importance of addressing non-climate issues in order to foster climate-resilience.