Exploring the utility of the entropy method for classifying household livelihood vulnerability and adaptation strategies to salinity intrusion Impact - empirical evidence in coastal communities of the Vietnamese Mekong delta

Abstract

This study evaluates how vulnerable and adaptable the coastal communities of the Vietnamese Mekong delta (VMD) are to the effects of saltwater intrusion on their livelihoods. A multi-disciplinary approach is used, including the entropy method, field surveys, and GIS combined with interviews with local officials, coastal communities. For analyzing household vulnerability for 457 households in twelve selected communes in Soc Trang province, VMD, we applied the Livelihood Vulnerable index (LVI) and LVI-IPCC indices, and the weight of key components was determined using Shannon's entropy approach. Both are salinity intrusion-focused and the subcomponents of the LVI and LVI-IPCC were similar; nevertheless, they are each conceptually constructed differently, resulting in distinct final value outputs. The results produced from LVI revealed that Lich Hoi Thuong had the highest vulnerability index (0.608), followed by Tran De (0.443) and Dai An 2 (0.435), having moderate vulnerability, whereas the Phu Huu (0.389), Tan Hung (0.341), Long Phu (0.337), Long Duc (0.322), Truong Khanh (0.318), Chau Khanh (0.277), Dai Ngai (0.260), Hau Thanh (0.244) and Lieu Tu (0.224) communes were classified as having low vulnerability. In terms of the results of LVI-IPCC, Lieu Tu (−0.013) is the most vulnerable. Our analysis underlines that, while some communes are vulnerable to saline intrusion, the sensitivity can be mitigated by their adaptive ability. This study has detailed the picture of livelihood vulnerability in Soc Trang, providing valuable information for the decision-makers to understand the context in study areas and then suggest effective strategies to adapt to salinity intrusion.