Livelihood vulnerability to climate change: a case of farm households in Northeast Vietnam

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This study investigates the livelihood vulnerability to climate change of farm households in Northeast Vietnam. Data for the study is based on a survey...     

Characterising the nature of household vulnerability to climate variability: empirical evidence from two regions of Ghana

This paper builds on national- and regional-level vulnerability assessments by developing and applying a livelihood vulnerability index at the community and household scales to explore the nature of climate vulnerability. It provides innovative methodological steps in relation to livelihood assessment to identify the vulnerability of households and communities to drought. This will help to improve drought vulnerability assessments in Ghana and more widely as it shows extra information can be obtained from local-level vulnerability assessment that may be lacking in national- and regional-level analysis. The research employs quantitative and qualitative data collected through participatory methods, key informant interviews and a questionnaire survey with 270 households across 6 communities in two regions in Ghana. Results show that within the same agroecological zone, households and communities experience different degrees of climate vulnerability. These differences can be largely explained by socioeconomic characteristics such as wealth and gender, as well as access to capital assets. Results identify vulnerable households within resilient communities as well as more resilient households within vulnerable communities. These outliers are studied in detail. It is found that outlier households in vulnerable communities have an array of alternative livelihood options and tend to be socially well connected, enabling them to take advantage of opportunities associated with environmental and economic changes. To sustain and enhance the livelihoods of vulnerable households and communities, policymakers need to identify and facilitate appropriate interventions that foster asset building, improve institutional capacity as well as build social capital.     

Synergistic vulnerabilities: climate variability and fire management policy increase farming challenges in southeastern Mexico

Agricultural fire for land preparation is central in the livelihoods of subsistence farmers practicing shifting cultivation. Achieving a good agricultural burn, one in which the biomass is thoroughly consumed within the chosen area, depends on specific weather conditions. Fire use decisions are also shaped by institutions that define the timing and rules for fire use but also constrain the alternatives and shape adaptive capacities. Global and regional climate changes interact with the institutional framing of fire management affecting local fire use and burn outcomes. These effects are documented and analyzed to suggest adaptations to existing governance systems. We examined subsistence farmers’ socio-ecological vulnerability in the Calakmul municipality, located in southeastern Mexico. Using interviews with farmers and government agents, as well as participatory mapping and observation of agricultural burns, we studied fire management knowledge, practices and burn outcomes. Our results describe a continuum of burn outcomes covering good agricultural burns, uncontrolled burns leading to wildfires and “malquemados” literally poorly burned areas. Malquemados represent unsuccessful combustion associated with excess moisture that results in scorched vegetation. We discuss how unexpected early rains trigger effects that cascade through space and the ecological, economic and cultural domains. We argue that fire management has been historically approached from a conservation standpoint yet agricultural fire use and wildfire prevention should also be addressed from a rural development perspective. This shift in fire management would lead to the proper inclusion of the entire array of burn outcomes in studies and policies addressing farmers’ vulnerability amplified by synergistic effects between climate variability and institutional change.     

Enhancing resilience to climate shocks through farmer innovation: evidence from northern Ghana

Regional Environmental Change - In this paper, we contribute to recent attempts to operationalize the measurement of climate resilience by measuring household resilience to climate shocks and by...     

The perception of and adaptation to climate variability/change in Ghana by small-scale and commercial farmers

Effective adaptation to climate change and variability is contingent on the perceptions of farmers and the ability of policy makers to merge these with scientific knowledge systems. The study examined the differentiated knowledge, experiences and perceptions of small traditional farmers and modern commercial farmers and their adaptation influences using qualitative interviews. Farmers generally have very clear ideas of the trends in the parameters of climate change as they relate to farm productivity and other livelihoods. Commercial farmers had a better understanding of the science of climate change, but small farmers presented a localised explanation of observed climate changes. Non-climate factors influenced adaptation of both groups of farmers. The capacities of small farmers are lower than their commercial counterparts, but the risks associated with commercial farming are much higher owing to higher investments in uncertain physical and economic conditions. Differentiated policies are needed at climate proofing the investments and efforts of farmers.     

Contract farming and the adoption of climate change coping and adaptation strategies in the northern region of Ghana

In climate change adaptation, contract farming can facilitate the adoption of coping and adaptation strategies, but such dynamics are less understood in the literature. This study uses primary data collected from a cross section of crop farmers in northern Ghana and a simultaneous equation systems approach to examine the links between contract farming and adoption of climate change coping and adaptation strategies. The major coping and adaptation strategies used by farmers include spraying of farms with chemicals, row planting, mixed farming, mixed cropping and crop rotation. Econometric results confirm that contract farming enhances the adoption of climate change adaptation strategies, but there is also a feedback effect on contract farming, such that farmers adopting more adaptation strategies have higher probabilities to get contract offer. This makes contract farming a viable policy instrument to consider in climate change adaptation. Furthermore, land ownership and extension services exert significant positive influence on adoption. As much as possible, coping and adaptation strategies should effectively be communicated to crop farmers. Policy-wise, development actors and successive governments in Ghana should encourage and facilitate contract or group farming, as was in the case of the National Block Farming, led by Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture.     

Non-timber forest products farming and empowerment of rural women in Ghana

United Nations estimates indicate that up to 70% of the world’s poor are female, and women in developing countries constitute the majority of the labour force, playing a key role in managing community resources and helping to improve food security and protect the environment. Increased attention in recent years has been focused on the potential role of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in improving the incomes and health of women in developing countries. NTFPs farming and marketing are very critical for the economic empowerment of rural poor, particularly women. Despite this potential, the contribution of NTFPs farming to the empowerment of women remains largely undervalued and understudied. This paper examines the potential contribution of NTFPs farming in poverty reduction and livelihood improvement of women in Ghana using the Sefwi Wiawso District (SWD) and Bibiani-Bekwai District (BBD) in the Western Region of Ghana as a case study. The paper explores the contribution of NTFPs farming to the total annual income, acquisition of assets, health, and food security of women through participatory research methods. ANOVA and Pearson Correlation (p < 0.05) show that a significant association exists between total annual income of women, acquisition of assets, health, food security, and the income earned from NTFPs in the SWD and BBD. The study revealed that NTFPs can contribute significantly to the economic empowerment of women. The paper asserts that commercialisation of NTFPs will have a greater impact on women’s livelihoods and therefore any opportunity for increasing their involvement is very essential for the empowerment and sustainable development of rural communities in Ghana.     

Climate change/variability and food systems: evidence from the Afram Plains,Ghana

While there are many studies of the impacts of climate change and variability on food production, few studies are devoted to a comprehensive assessment of impacts on food systems. Results of a survey of food systems and household adaptation strategies in three communities in the Afram Plains, Ghana, reveal how extreme climatic events affect rural food production, transportation, processing and storage. Adaptation strategies implemented by the three communities during past droughts serve as a foundation for planning responses to future climate change. Results of this study suggest that food security in this region—where droughts and floods are expected to become more severe due to climate change—could be enhanced by increasing farm-based storage facilities; improving the transportation system, especially feeder roads that link food production areas and major markets; providing farmers with early warning systems; extending credit to farmers; and the use of supplementary irrigation. This study also indicates that some cultural practices, particularly those that prohibit the consumption of certain foods, may reduce the resilience of some individuals and ethnic groups to food system disruptions. Understanding the local context and the responses of households is critical to the development of effective strategies for reducing the potential adverse impacts of climatic change on food security in rural Ghana.     

Adaptation of Iranian farmers to climate variability and change

Climate change poses serious challenges for populations whose livelihoods depend principally on natural resources. Given the increases in extreme weather events projected to adversely affect the arid and semi-arid regions of Iran, adaptation of the agricultural sector is imperative. Few studies have addressed the farmers’ adaptation in Iran, and little is known about ongoing adaptation strategies in use. Adopting principal component analysis/fuzzy logic-based method, this paper considers the agricultural adaptation to climate variability. A survey of 255 farmers of Fars Province, selected through a multistage stratified random sampling method, revealed different levels of adaptation, specifically the low, moderate and high, which are principally distinguished by various degrees of sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The study also identified the main adaptation strategies used by farmers in response to climate-related shocks. Results indicated that although a large percentage of farmers make some adjustments to their farming practices, there are significant differences in choice of adaptation strategies by the adaptation categories. Some conclusions and recommendations are offered to increase the adaptive capacity of farmers and reduce negative impacts of climate variability and change.     

Effects of the adaptations to climate changes on the income of herdsmen in Qinghai Province

This study aims to implement the empirical analysis of the effects of the adaptive measures on the income of herdsmen in the context of the climate change with the positive mathematical programming(PMP)model.The survey was first implemented in three counties in the Three Headwaters Region.Finally the measures and recommendations suitable for the economic development in the ecologically fragile areas were proposed.The main conclusions are as follows:priority can be given to the measures to prevent the damage from rats and the engineering measures for pasture maintenance in Zeku County,where the geological conditions and grass quality are inferior,while the fiscal subsidy can be prioritized in Tongde County where the grassland area is relatively less.These recommendations can not only provide good reference for the protection of grassland resources,but they also lay a foundation for the implementation of more suitable measures to help the herdsmen in the ecologically fragile areas to adapt to the climate change.     

Toward sustainable adaptation to future climate change: insights from vulnerability and resilience approaches analyzing agrarian system of Iran

There is no certainty that adaptation to climate change is sustainable, and new approaches to assess current climate change adaptation trajectories are sorely needed. In this paper, we review the farmer-focused approaches (typical of vulnerability approaches) and agro-ecosystem-focused approaches (typical of resilience approaches). We propose that a combination of the two may be a better way to conceptualize sustainable adaptation to future climate change within an agro-ecological system. To test our hypothesis, we use the case study of Iran, a land that has shown both tremendous resilience and vulnerability in its agro-ecological system. We explore the changes that have occurred in the Iranian farming system and their implications for farmers’ resilience to climate change through an integrated lens combining vulnerability approaches and resilience approaches. During the previous five decades, we describe how Iranian peasants have become small farmers, the land tenure system has changed from a traditional landlord-sharecropping system to family farms, and the quantity and quality of the agro-ecological resources have changed considerably. Our integrative approach provides important insights for both research and policy. We show that combining the two approaches can have far-reaching implications for farmers’ adaptation to future climate change knowledge, policy, and practice since one approach aims to decrease farmers vulnerability and the other approach aims to build resilient agro-ecosystems.     

Determinants of adaptation practices to climate change by Chepang households in the rural Mid-Hills of Nepal

This study analyzes the factors influencing the adoption of various adaptation practices by a highly marginalized indigenous community in the remote rural Mid-Hills of Nepal. The analysis is based on a household survey conducted among 221 Chepang households selected randomly. A multivariate probit model was used to analyze five categories of adaptation choices against a set of socio-economic, institutional, infrastructural, and perception variables. Perception of rainfall changes, size of landholding, status of land tenure, distance to motor road, access to productive credit, information, extension services, and skill development trainings are all influential to enable households to deviate away from traditional coping strategies and adopt suitable practices to adapt to climate vagaries. Policies and development activities should be geared to address these determinants in order to facilitate adaptation.     

陕西安康移民搬迁农户的生计适应策略与适应力感知

从社会-生态系统适应性理论出发,借鉴脆弱性研究中的适应性理论来研究我国易地移民搬迁农户的适应策略和适应力,构建了移民搬迁农户的生计适应性分析框架,并以陕西安康移民搬迁工程为例,通过实地调查和访谈获取了安康搬迁农户的调查数据,分析了安康移民搬迁农户的生计适应策略、适应力感知及其影响因素。分析发现安康移民搬迁农户在搬迁之后采用了四种生计适应策略,即传统生计专业化型、非农专业化、补贴依赖型和多样化生计,这四种类型占全部搬迁农户样本的比例分别为:28.6%、34.3%、18.3%和18.8%。搬迁农户的适应力感知类型与搬迁类型、安置类型存在着统计上的显著差异。尤其是搬迁农户收入等级类型与适应力感知之间存在显著差异,越是高收入户,越表示收入增加,搬迁后"稳得住、能致富"的情况则越好;而贫困户搬迁之后的生计适应、生计安全状况令人担忧。此外,搬迁农户不同的生计适应策略与其适应力感知也存在着统计上的显著差异。总体上看,搬迁之后,非农专业化和传统生计专业化的农户收入减少的更少、表示收入增加的更多、适应力更好,而补贴依赖型、生计多样化型农户的适应状况要差一些。本文进一步采用MULTINOMINAL LOGISTICS回归模型分析了安康移民搬迁农户适应力感知的影响因素。结果显示,政府主导的移民安置方式、搬迁类型、搬迁农户所获得的扶贫项目数对搬迁农户生计适应情况并没有显著的影响,搬迁农户也没有随着搬迁时间的增加而提高其适应力;当地搬迁农户劳动力也存在一些闲置、土地林地需要进一步提高生产经营效率等。当地地方政府仍需要进一步完善移民搬迁方案和对移民搬迁农户的精准帮扶措施,发展后续产业,提高其适应力。     

Rural organizations and adaptation to climate change and variability in rural Kenya

Numerous studies have shown that collective action affects the type and efficiency of short- and long-term adaptation to climate change. This empirical study contributes to the body of the literature on collective action and adaptive capacity by demonstrating how organizations frame responses to climate variability and change in rural Kenya by promoting local rural institutions. By analyzing interviews, role-playing games, and household surveys, we ask how local rural organizations shape coping strategies to climate variability and how they may structure future adaptations to climate change. We also investigate what types of households participate in those organizations and how their participation may impact their vulnerability to climate change and variability. Our analysis shows that in places rendered especially vulnerable to climate change by arid climatic conditions, the disengagement of governmental services, and a limited access to income-generating activities, local rural organizations increase livelihood security. Those organizations reduce local vulnerabilities and enhance collective action. In contrast to common diversification and livelihood security strategies which rely on the access to urban or peri-urban structures, local rural institutions and organizations allow for rural and grassroots sustainable adaptation strategies. In that respect, they constitute a resilient and mostly untapped resource for visibly strengthening livelihood security and adaptive capacities in rural Kenya.     

Improving cross-sectoral climate change adaptation for coastal settlements: insights from South East Queensland,Australia

Climate change impacts affecting coastal areas, such as sea-level rise and storm surge events, are expected to have significant social, economic and environmental consequences worldwide. Ongoing population growth and development in highly urbanised coastal areas will exacerbate the predicted impacts on coastal settlements. Improving the adaptation potential of highly vulnerable coastal communities will require greater levels of planning and policy integration across sectors and scales. However, to date, there is little evidence in the literature which demonstrates how climate policy integration is being achieved. This paper contributes to this gap in knowledge by drawing on the example provided by the process of developing cross-sectoral climate change adaptation policies and programmes generated for three coastal settlement types as part of the South East Queensland Climate Adaptation Research Initiative (SEQCARI), a 3-year multi-sectoral study of climate change adaptation options for human settlements in South East Queensland, Australia. In doing so, we first investigate the benefits and challenges to cross-sectoral adaptation to address climate change broadly and in coastal areas. We then describe how cross-sectoral adaptation policies and programmes were generated and appraised involving the sectors of urban planning and management, coastal management, emergency management, human health and physical infrastructure as part of SEQCARI. The paper concludes by discussing key considerations that can inform the development and assessment of cross-sectoral climate change adaptation policies and programmes in highly urbanised coastal areas.     

Livelihood vulnerability to climate change in the mountains of Northern Vietnam: comparing the Hmong and the Dzao ethnic minority populations

Environment, Development and Sustainability - Livelihoods of ethnic minority populations living in the mountains of Northern Vietnam are highly vulnerable to climate-induced natural hazards....     

On-farm adaptation strategies to climate change: the case of smallholder farmers in the Northern Development Authority Zone of Ghana

Environment, Development and Sustainability - This paper examines the barriers and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers in the Northern Development Authority (NDR) zone of Ghana to climate...     

Responding to climate variability: the opening of an artificial mouth on the Senegal River

The city of Saint-Louis is marked by recurrent floods, despite the decrease in rainfall. The town that grew downstream the vast plain where Senegalese-Mauritanian basin topography flattens considerably has experienced periodic flooding since its foundation. In 2003, the premature flooding of the Senegal River urged the Senegalese authorities to take the initiative to open a breach in the coastal sand strip of the “Langue de Barbarie,” in order to evacuate the water surplus from the river to the ocean and therefore resolve forever the problem of river flooding. But the disruption of estuarine dynamics has led to a rapid expansion of this gap: a few meters wide at its excavation, it reaches over 2,700 m in August 2009. Moreover, 10 months after the widening of the gap, the old river mouth was completely closed. If the natural movement of a mouth can be observed on some major deltas in the world (even on the Senegal River in the past), this is here a true man-made relocation. Based on the statistical analysis of series of hydrological data, this article demonstrates on the one hand that climatic conditions in 2003 which generated a major flood is an anomaly detected in the sequence of dry climate variability observed in the Sahel. On the other hand, it studies the rapid evolution of this new mouth of the Senegal River and discusses some of impacts on the regional social–ecological system, in this sensitive Sahelian environment.