Mudança climática, percepção de risco e inação no Semiárido brasileiro: Como produtores rurais familiares percebem a variabilidade climática no Sertão do São Francisco – Bahia

perception, vulnerability and adaptation compose the conceptual tripod of recent studies on the social impact of climate change. Given their interdependence, and relative deficiency of the studies of the first of these terms, this work focuses on the social construction of risk associated with climate change in rural family producers of the Brazilian Semiarid region, based on the theory of “risk society” proposed by Ulrich Beck. The research is based upon fieldwork realized by the authors in four municipalities of the Sertão do São Francisco territory in Bahia. The main result achieved is regarding the homogeneity of risk perception across different social categories. This fact is attributed to the imperceptible nature of modern risks, and the role of mass media in the construction of risk perception. The perception of risk is associated with the intensification of already known phenomena, limiting adaptation actions in the agricultural systems. Not being seen as a process of wider scope, and possibly irreversible, no widely spread adaptation actions were found, which would be motivated by a new climate condition, as described by the interviewees.