Community Livelihood Vulnerability of Tanah Merah and Lobuk in Sumenep Regency to Climate Change

Abstract

Vulnerability assessment is the first step required to determine the mitigation and adaptation policies for climate change. Composite indices, such as the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI, including the LVI-IPCC) and Sistem Informasi Data Indeks Kerentanan (SIDIK) is a widely known methods of calculating vulnerability since they summarize various aspects of life. Thus, comparing results from different composite indices for vulnerability assessment may provide beneficial insight for stakeholders. This study utilized the LVI, LVI-IPCC, and SIDIK methods with the study sites consisting of Tanah Merah and Lobuk in Sumenep Regency. Calculation results from household interview data showed that based on the LVI, LVI-IPCC, and SIDIK methods, Lobuk and Tanah Merah villages were classified as vulnerable both at the village and household levels. These results appeared in all different combinations of weighting and indexing methods. Despite the slight difference in household vulnerability distribution pattern between each method, the vulnerability scores still fell in the same category. The key indicators driving the vulnerability in Tanah Merah Village are households without waste management, households that have never received training from the government, and households that do not receive disaster early warning. The key indicators driving the vulnerability in Lobuk are households with small land ownership and households with debt. Hence, action recommendations for Tanah Merah are providing waste banks and waste sorting facility, upgrading public capacity through workshops, and adopting social media to share climate-related information, while for Lobuk, this includes the determination of regulatory instruments related to space utilization in the coastal area, mapping area affected by change climate, and financial literacy improvement especially promoting savings in the community.