Impacts of snow disaster on rural livelihoods in southern Tibet-Qinghai Plateau

Abstract

Snow disaster is one of the most influential and devastating natural disasters with the serious losses in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but its impact on rural residents’ livelihood does not get enough attention from scholars. This study evaluates the index of snow disasters (SI) and multi-dimensional livelihood index (MLI), and constructs an assessment framework of the impact of snow disaster on the livelihood capital of rural residents. The results indicate that: (1) SI in Shigatse Prefecture presented a downward trend from 1980 to 2014, but the peak interval shrunk; the high disaster areas located in the north, west and south as well as the low in the center and east. (2) The livelihood capital of rural resident showed an upward trend with an average annual growth rate of 6%, and was in a state of spatial agglomeration. (3) The significant negative effects of SI on each capital from largest to smallest are financial capital, physical capital, human capital, social capital and natural capital. (4) The 18 counties were divided into four groups, namely the high-disaster high-capital group, the high-disaster low-capital group, the low-disaster high-capital group and the low-disaster low-capital group. According to the panel regression, agricultural and meteorological fiscal inputs, road construction and educational input have positive influence on livelihood capital, but the effects vary in different groups. Accordingly, we propose that more effective policies should be adopted to mitigate the negative effects of snow disasters.