Assessing the vulnerability of small-scale fishery communities in the estuarine areas of Central Vietnam in the context of increasing climate risks

Abstract

Although Vietnam's coastal and estuarine areas are most vulnerable to the impact of climate shocks, very few studies have closely evaluated this vulnerability. This research applied the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vulnerability framework (LVI-IPCC) to estimate the climate vulnerability of small-scale fisheries in the Tam Giang – Cau Hai lagoon, Central Vietnam - recognised as the biggest brackish water lagoon in South East Asia. Mixed methods, including key informant interviews, group discussions and questionnaire surveys (N = 181), were applied to collect empirical data in two estuarine fishery communities of Loc Binh and Huong Phong communes, Thua Thien Hue province. Two important findings emerge from this analysis, (1) the overall results of this study indicate that livelihood strategies and availability of food are the most critical factors in determining livelihood vulnerability for the two surveyed communes in the TG-CH lagoon and (2) the LVI and LVI-IPCC are effective tools to assessing vulnerability at the community level. It is expected that the lessons learnt from this study will assist in designing future studies and help devise intervention strategies to reduce the vulnerability of small-scale fishery communities in developing countries.