Assessing Livelihood Vulnerability of Minority Ethnic Groups to Climate Change: A Case Study from the Northwest Mountainous Regions of Vietnam

Van Thanh Tran,Geoff Cockfield,Duc-Anh An-Vo,Shahbaz Mushtaq

doi:10.3390/su13137106

Van Thanh Tran, Geoff Cockfield + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137106

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Abstract

Climate variability, climate change, and extreme events can compound the vulnerability of people heavily reliant on agriculture. Those with intersecting disadvantages, such as women, the poor, and ethnic minority groups, may be particularly affected. Understanding and assessing diverse vulnerabilities, especially those related to ethnicity, are therefore potentially important to the development of policies and programs aimed at enabling adaptation in such groups. This study uses a livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) method, along with qualitative data analysis, to compare the vulnerability of different smallholder farmers in Son La province, one of the poorest provinces in Vietnam. Data were collected from 240 households, representing four minority ethnic groups. The results indicated that household vulnerability is influenced by factors such as income diversity, debt, organizational membership, support from and awareness by local authorities, access to health services, water resources, and location. Results revealed that two of the ethnic groups’ households were, on average, more vulnerable, particularly regarding livelihood strategies, health, water, housing and productive land, and social network items when compared to the other two ethnic groups. The study shows the need for targeted interventions to reduce the vulnerability of these and similarly placed small ethnic communities.

Highlights

Vietnam is ranked as one of the world’s ten most vulnerable countries to climate change and climate events such as rising sea levels, storms, floods, and droughts [1,2,3].Under increasing climate variability, people whose livelihoods rely mostly on agricultural activities are relatively vulnerable, in developing countries [4]
Reference [5] indicates that coastal people in Vietnam have generally higher vulnerability to climate change because nearly 60% of livelihoods are based on aquaculture and agriculture, whereas the mountainous regions have unstable and complex topography with poorer economic prospects, and people in those regions are highly sensitive to slight changes in the frequency and severity of climate events [6,7]
Vulnerability and adaptation research in Vietnam has largely focused on coastal areas, especially in the Mekong River Delta, with most work focusing on assessing the direct impacts of climate change

Summary

Introduction

Vietnam is ranked as one of the world’s ten most vulnerable countries to climate change and climate events such as rising sea levels, storms, floods, and droughts [1,2,3].Under increasing climate variability, people whose livelihoods rely mostly on agricultural activities are relatively vulnerable, in developing countries [4]. Vietnam is ranked as one of the world’s ten most vulnerable countries to climate change and climate events such as rising sea levels, storms, floods, and droughts [1,2,3]. Vulnerability and adaptation research in Vietnam has largely focused on coastal areas, especially in the Mekong River Delta, with most work focusing on assessing the direct impacts of climate change. Significant threats include increases in the frequency and intensity of droughts and sea level rise driving saline intrusion in the Mekong River Delta, causing the loss of land for rice production, which could threaten national food security [8]. There may, be differences in the degree of vulnerability and capacity to adapt amongst different groups, especially considering

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