Climate change vulnerability assessment of urban informal settlers in Nepal, a least developed country

Abstract

Urban poor with limited resources and residing in precarious informal settlements are often one of the most vulnerable populations to climate variability and change. The present study seeks to assess the vulnerability of informal settlers to climate variability and change. Drawing from natural hazards, politico-economic, and ecological resilience strands of vulnerability literature we developed an integrated set of indicators for vulnerability assessment. The vulnerability of informal settlement dwellers was assessed in the hilly district of Kathmandu and the plain regions of the Nawalpur district of Nepal by collecting primary data from 300 randomly selected households, 150 from each district. Communities living in informal settlements experienced higher exposure to climate risk with lower adaptive capacity. Informal settlements with scarce resources, depilated infrastructure, fewer livelihood opportunities and knowledge gaps pose considerable vulnerability to climate variability and change. Our findings reveal that the inhabitants of informal settlements in the plain region are more vulnerable than that of the informal settlements of the hilly region due to higher exposure and sensitivity and lower adaptive capacities of the informal settlers of the plains. Enabling factors such as livelihood diversification, improved infrastructure, health facilities, social capitals, and support from local government with contextual policies and interventions, can facilitate better adaptation among the informal settlers and make them resilient to climate variability and change.