Understanding vulnerability and sustainable livelihood factors from coastal residents in Taiwan

Abstract

The sustainability of Taiwan’s coastal areas is vulnerable to human-caused and natural environmental changes, placing the income stability and the livelihoods of coastal residents at risk. In response to the challenges of coastal sustainability, this study examined the relationship between the vulnerability context and respondents’ perceptions of livelihood factors using the sustainable livelihoods approach (SLA) to understand the differences between the perceptions of coastal residents in multiple clusters. The findings are expected to facilitate decision-making in relation to sustainable livelihood issues, enhance the resilience of coastal areas to environmental changes, and increase attention on appropriate policy development and the future investment of resources. We recruited 410 coastal residents as respondents for a questionnaire survey. Through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), cluster analysis, analysis of variance, and cross analysis, we explored the typology of the respondents and the differences in their perceptions of livelihood factors. The EFA results revealed that the respondents valued five livelihood factors, namely context, supporting benefit, network, productivity, and autonomy. Next, by using the segmentation technique, we determined the typology of the three resident clusters and the differences in their perceptions of livelihood factors. On the basis of these findings, we propose that the key to the sustainable livelihood strategy is livelihood diversification, which can improve livelihood resilience. Thus, we assert that using the SLA as a method of strategic planning for coastal areas can facilitate the development of suitable countermeasures. Future studies are recommended to translate livelihood capitals into the aforementioned five livelihood factors to serve as a research basis.