Adaptive Capacity Of Households Research Articles

Assessment of household adaptive capacity to disasters: Two comparative case studies in Central Vietnam

Assessment of household adaptive capacity to disasters: Two comparative case studies in Central Vietnam

Estimating the Impact of Adaptive Capacity on Vulnerability in Nepal

The adaptive capacity of households is an effective instrument for minimizing climate change-induced vulnerability. Varying adaptive capacity across different income and socio-strata of households make different vulnerability impacts. This paper assesses the impacts of adaptation capacity on household susceptibility index and ranks in Nepal employing an explorative method. In the explorative method, the household vulnerability index as a composite index and multiple regression model are analytical methods. The data set is collected from the questionnaire survey of 642 households in the Sotkhola Water Basin Gadhi, Lekhagaon, and Kunathari through a regression model. As a result, a flood disaster is terrible more than a landslide. By cluster, its intensity is deeper in Gadhi than in Kunathari and Lekhagaon in terms of destruction of assets and non-assets. Total income loss magnifies household vulnerability 7 times deeper. The distribution of vulnerability level falls to poor households three times more than rich households in accordance with headcount poverty and food sufficiency poverty measures. The composite index shows adaptive capacity plays a key role in household vulnerability. Therefore, adaptive capacity is an instrument of resilience to household safety and welfare. In the context of poverty alleviation, preparedness, and climate change initiatives, this result will be valuable to improve the adaptive capacity of the socioeconomically vulnerable population for disaster and climate resilience, further development, and future disaster risk management policy implications.

Assessment of social factors that promote the vulnerability of communities to coastal hazards in the Volta estuary in Ghana

Although vulnerability assessments have been widely conducted along the coast of Ghana, they have not focused on the factors contributing to social vulnerability of households and communities to disaster risks. Using an indicator-based approach, this study examines the social factors that affect the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity of households and communities in the Volta estuary, Ghana. Results indicate that all the communities within the study area were exposed to climate change related hazards. However, two communities, Azizanya in Ada East District and Fuveme in Anloga District, were highly exposed with unweighted indexes of 0.50 and 0.76, respectively. Sensitivity among communities was generally high ranging from 0.00 to 0.87 due to several social factors including low household income, high number of children and aged at home, and lack of social amenities such as roads, health facilities, markets, and schools. The communities recorded high adaptive capacity and were able to withstand the ravages of the ocean and the river system. Households and communities developed various adaptation measures such as relocation to nearby communities or higher grounds, open spaces and packing of their belongings on higher objects such as tables, whiles government actions included occasional dredging and constructions of sea defense structures. An integrated, multi-stakeholder approach involving government, non-governmental community-based organisations, communities, households, and other stakeholders is proposed to design and implement a comprehensive disaster management plan to combat climate change related coastal disasters.

Climate change and food systems: Linking adaptive capacity and nutritional needs of low-income households in Ghana

Climate change is projected to adversely impact the health and wellbeing of households particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where social vulnerability is pervasive. While countries such as Ghana have intensified efforts to ensure effective and proactive adaptation to emerging climate impacts, it has also become apparent, in some instances, that levels of adaptive capacity within households and communities remain a critical determinant of the success of adaptation efforts. This is particularly the case in the poor and perennially vulnerable northern regions of Ghana where high incidence of stunting in children has highlighted the complex interlinkages that exists among climate change, food systems, household income levels, nutrition, and adaptive capacity. This is against the background that this is also the time that government and other development partners have intensified intervention actions to influence household adaptation to climate change and nutrition and health outcomes, particularly among children. Using the Karaga district of northern Ghana as a reference point, and employing the sustainable livelihoods framework, this study explores the link between household adaptive capacity to climate change and the nutritional needs of low-income households. The study finds a significant inverse relationship between household adaptive capacity and stunting in children under five years of age as an indicator of household nutritional needs. Additionally, the study also finds that agricultural practices like adopting new varieties, dry season farming, mulching, and intercropping could have positive influence on household nutrition if households have sufficient capacity to adopt such practices. The study, therefore, provides, critical insights into adaptive capacity measurement and its utility in the context of human systems. More importantly, the study also shows how carefully considered adaptation efforts can shape national policies on climate adaptation, adaptive capacity, nutrition, and health.

Household behavior and vulnerability to acute malnutrition in Kenya

Anticipating those most at-risk of being acutely malnourished significantly shapes decisions that pertain to resource allocation and intervention in times of food crises. Yet, the assumption that household behavior in times of crisis is homogeneous—that households share the same capacity to adapt to external shocks—ostensibly prevails. This assumption fails to explain why, in a given geographical context, some households remain more vulnerable to acute malnutrition relative to others, and why a given risk factor may have a differential effect across households? In an effort to explore how variation in household behavior influences vulnerability to malnutrition, we use a unique household dataset that spans 23 Kenyan counties from 2016 to 2020 to seed, calibrate, and validate an evidence-driven computational model. We use the model to conduct a series of counterfactual experiments on the relationship between household adaptive capacity and vulnerability to acute malnutrition. Our findings suggest that households are differently impacted by given risk factors, with the most vulnerable households typically being the least adaptive. These findings further underscore the salience of household adaptive capacity, in particular, that adaption is less effective for economic vis-à-vis climate shocks. By making explicit the link between patterns of household behavior and vulnerability in the short- to medium-term, we underscore the need for famine early warning to better account for variation in household-level behavior.

Contextualizing patterns in short-term disaster recoveries from the 2015 Nepal earthquakes: household vulnerabilities, adaptive capacities, and change

Disaster recovery is multidimensional and requires theoretical and methodological approaches from the interdisciplinary social sciences to illustrate short- and long-term recovery dynamics that can guide more informed and equitable policy and interventions. The 2015 Nepal earthquakes have had catastrophic impacts on historically marginalized ethnic groups and Indigenous households in rural locations, arising in the immediate aftermath and unfolding for years afterward. Analyzing factors that shape household recovery patterns can help identify vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities in addition to signaling potential future changes. We pursue this goal using survey data from 400 randomly selected households in 4 communities over 2 10-week intervals at 9 months and 1.5 years after the earthquakes. Building on previous research that used non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination to identify patterns among multiple indicators of recovery (Spoon et al. 2020a), we investigate associations among these patterns of recovery, hazard exposure, and four domains of household adaptive capacity: institutional participation, livelihood diversity, connectivity, and social memory. Our results suggest: (1) social inequality, high hazard exposure, and disrupted place-based livelihoods (especially for herders, farmers, and forest harvesters on the geographic margins) had strong associations with negative recovery outcomes and displacement; (2) inaccessibility and marginality appeared to stimulate ingenuity despite challenging circumstances through mutual aid and local knowledge; (3) recoveries were non-linear, differing for households displaced from their primary home and agropastoral practice and those displaced to camps; and (4) some households experienced rapid changes while others stagnated. We contribute a temporal dataset with a random sample collected following a disaster that uses a theoretically informed quantitative methodology to explore linear and non-linear relationships among multidimensional recovery, adaptive capacity and change and provide an example of how vulnerabilities interact with adaptive capacity.

Disaster Resettlement and Adaptive Capacity among Rural Households in China

It has long been thought that the implementation of resettlement programs should focus on livelihood reconstruction in the long run rather than just concentrating on material compensation. There is to date little empirical evidence of the extent to which disaster resettlement may affect household adaptive capacity (HAC) in rural communities. To explore whether and how disaster resettlement is shaping HAC, this article conceptualizes and measures adaptive capacity at the household level using household surveys in rural China. An indicator-based framework is adopted to identify and evaluate HAC. The results indicate that resettlement and its consequences have a significant negative impact on HAC. Although resettlement appears to have a central place in development projects in China, we provide evidence that it leads to reducing rather than improving household capacity to adapt to natural disasters.

Intra-household gender disparity: effects on climate change adaptation in Arsi Negele district, Ethiopia

Women empowerment in agriculture influences adaptation capacity to climate change impacts. Women are disempowered in rural households. This affects household's adaptive capacity to climate change negatively. Household survey, focus group discussion, key informant interview and workshop were used to track stakeholders' opinions on gender disparity in agriculture and policy issues. The objective of the study was to assess the gender parity index in agriculture, resource governance patterns and how these impact the capacity to climate change adaptation. The results show wives were imparity with their husbands. The parity gap on ownership, access to, and decision-making power over agricultural equipment was as wide as 59% and this affects women's adaptation capacity to climate change impacts. Indeed, 94% of the coupled households have got their land by redistribution and inheritance land acquisition forms by which both forms of acquiring land favored the husband. Half of the respondent households acknowledged that they have already acquired certification for their farmlands. However, the certification was mostly given by the names of husbands and in few cases by both. Certification of farmlands by the name of a wife and a husband has built confidence on ownership and manage their farmlands. This has helped a household to better adapt climate change impacts. Gender disparity in agricultural productive resources combined with policy and cultural distortions could exacerbate household's vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. This indicates the need for gender mainstreaming in climate change policy reforms and formulation so as to empower women and build their adaptive capacity.

Community Livelihood Vulnerability to Climate Change in Ileje District, South-Western Tanzania

Community livelihood assets are important in enhancing household adaptive capacity and resilience to the impact of climate change. This paper examined the vulnerability of community livelihood assets to the impacts of climate change using Ileje District, in south-western Tanzania as a case study. Random sampling was used to select four villages, out of which two villages were sampled from midland and two from highland established agro ecological zones, constituting a total sample size of 308 households. Descriptive statistics was used in data analysis generated from household interviews. A balanced weighted average approach was performed to calculate households’ livelihood vulnerability index (LVI). The results showed that climate change impacted the livelihood assets of households; and more so on social, physical and financial capital; with LVI of 0.7, 0.4, and 0.4, respectively. Households’ incomes, land and water productivity, biodiversity, soil fertility and water flow from water sources were reduced; household health and employment opportunities were impacted; whereas households’ food shortage and poverty increased. The results also revealed the adaptive capacity index of 0.35 (overall), 0.34 (midland zone) and 0.36 (highland zone), indicating the study area to be moderately vulnerable to climate change. This paper argues that assessing the magnitude of climate change impacts on households’ livelihood assets is strategic for sustainable adaptation to climate changes as it guides policy makers and planners on appropriate management measures. Similarly, increasing the access of livelihood assets to the more vulnerable households is vital for sustaining their livelihoods.

Understanding short-term household recoveries from the 2015 Nepal earthquakes: Lessons learned and recommendations

We assess tangible and intangible disaster recovery dynamics following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes and aftershocks in order to understand household adaptive capacity and transformation. We randomly selected 400 households in four communities across two highly impacted districts for surveys and interviews at 9 months and 1.5 years afterwards and returned at 2.5 years to share and discuss results. We found that household recoveries were heterogenous, context specific, and changing. Tangible hazard exposure, livelihood disruption, and displacement and intangible place attachment and mental well-being influenced recoveries. We also illustrate challenges related to government programs, housing designs and codes, and outside aid.

Farm households' levels of vulnerability to extreme weather events in South-Eastern Nigeria

The impacts of climate change risks, risk management mechanisms, and the physical environment under which farm households operate play significant roles in poverty and hidden hunger dynamics in developing countries. Extreme weather events are most often triggers of changes in risk management, which also affect the capacity of households to absorb the resultant shocks. This paper based on primary data collected as part of a PhD dissertation in the Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, presents an analysis of farm households’ levels of vulnerability to extreme weather events in South-eastern Nigeria. A multistage sampling procedure was used in the selection of 120male-and 120 female-headed farm households that constituted the sample for the study. Both structured interview schedule and focus group discussion guide were used to gather data from the respondents, which were analyzed using UNDP vulnerability index. Using household adaptive capacity approach, data were collected on human, economic and institutional capacity of farmers in coping with extreme weather events. Female-headed households were more vulnerable than their male-headed counterparts to the effect of extreme weather events with respect to some of the indicators such as farming income, years of formal education, farm size, land ownership status, number of extension contacts, access to weather information, access to remittance, membership of cooperative and assistance from National Emergency Management Agency in the area. Overall, using household adaptive capacity approach, the results of the gender-based vulnerability analysis showed male-headed farming households with a vulnerability index of 0.38 while the female-headed farming households, on the other hand, had vulnerability index of 0.68. Although female-headed farm households were more vulnerable than their male counterparts, the farmers were all generally highly vulnerable to the incidence of natural disasters because of low adaptive capacity. The study recommends that government and development partners with the responsibility of protecting the environment should be gender-sensitive and redirect more effort in mitigating the negative agricultural effects caused by extreme weather events, especially among female-headed farm households who are more vulnerable.

The effect of adaptive capacity to malaria on subjective welfare in Ghana

Abstract There is a significant correlation between ​climate variability and the incidence of climate-sensitive diseases such as malaria. This has implications for the welfare of households affected by malaria especially in resource-poor communities. Vulnerability and resilience underpin adaptive capacity to malaria, hence understanding the relationship between the latter and welfare is critical for social welfare policy formulation. Yet, the relationship between the adaptive capacity of households and the subjective evaluation of their welfare has not been adequately explored by previous studies. We adopt the theoretical framework developed by van Praag (1968) to investigate this relationship among the urban poor in Accra, Ghana. We found that, to equalize subjective welfare across households with heterogenous adaptive capacities to malaria, those with low adaptive capacity require higher income compared to their counterparts who have high adaptive capacity. Furthermore, households that receive social support require a lower level of income, compared to those who give support and those who neither give nor receive support, to reach the same level of verbal quantification of welfare.

Differential household vulnerability to climatic and non-climatic stressors in semi-arid areas of Mali, West Africa

ABSTRACT Semi-Arid Regions (SARs) of West Africa are considered climate change “hotspots” where strong ecological, economic and social impacts converge to make socio-ecological systems particularly vulnerable. While both climatic and non-climatic drivers interact across scales to influence vulnerability, traditionally, this inter-connectedness has received little attention in vulnerability assessments in the region. This study adopted the vulnerability patterns framework, operationalized using the Multidimensional Livelihood Vulnerability approach to include both climatic and non-climatic stressors to analyze differential household vulnerability in SARs of Mali. Findings showed that while drought was the most mentioned climate-related stressor, households were also exposed to a diversity of environmental and socio-economic stressors, including food scarcity, livestock disease, labour unavailability, crop damage, and erratic rainfall patterns. The typology revealed three vulnerability archetypes differentiated by adaptive capacity and sensitivity. Availability of productive household members, household resource endowments, livelihood diversification and social networks were the main discriminant factors of household adaptive capacity, while challenges relating to food and water security make households more sensitive to stressors. The analysis highlighted the heterogeneity in household vulnerability patterns within and across communities. Failing to account for this heterogeneity in adaptation planning might result in a mismatch between adaptation needs and interventions, and potentially in maladaptation.

Climate Change, Rain Fed Maize Productivity and Rural Malnutrition in Mexico

This paper estimates the impact of climate change on rain-fed maize productivity and its association with rural Mexican children's malnutrition. We use panel data for 2,196 municipalities to assess the effects of temperature and rainfall on maize yields from 2003-07. We then incorporate temperature and rainfall scenarios changes by 2030-2039 into the estimated coefficients to explore climate change’s effects. We then investigate whether such drops on maize yields are associated with increased children malnutrition in rural areas. Children malnutrition does relate inversely to maize productivity shocks triggered by climate change. These estimates, however, may overstate the association of climate change with stunting in the sample since they only take into account spatial adaptive capacity. Households can adapt to changing climate conditions through spatial mobility, but also increased mean per capita output due to economic growth over the next 25 years. Predicting the impacts of climate change on maize yields and then its association with stunting is a starting point to address the vulnerability of those who have low resilience to adverse climatic events. It remains to see how fast will farmers adapt to changing climate conditions and if current policies are conducive to this end. The adaptive capacity of households is very heterogeneous, and we account for some of this adaptive capacity through spatial mobility. The government can also improve adaptation through economic growth, prices, transfers, and insurance. More food could be grown with better policies and incentives, and recent initiatives to revamp agricultural research and develop higher yield drought-resistant maize varieties are needed. Finally, the analysis presented here provides average estimates of maize losses and stunting increases associated with temperature and rainfall changes, both regionally and rural areas. However, it is also necessary to assess the distributional impact of climate change across population groups.

Drought and households’ adaptive capacity to water scarcity in Kasali, Uganda

Abstract The world is experiencing variability in precipitation, increased temperature, drought frequencies and intensities. Globally, approximately four billion individuals experience water scarcity due to drought. In Uganda about 10% of the population in the southern and northern parts of the country experience drought related water scarcity annually. This study aimed at assessing drought and households’ adaptive capacity (AC) to water scarcity during drought in Kasali. This was done through determining drought trends from 1987 to 2017, assessing the impact of drought on water availability and the AC of households to manage water scarcity. Droughts were assessed based on the Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI). The results show a decrease in the average annual rainfall, and the seasons of March-April-May (MAM), January-February (JF) while the seasons of September-October-November-December (SOND) and June-July-August (JJA) show an increase in rainfall trend. The average maximum and minimum annual and seasonal temperature increased significantly by between 0.56 and 1.51 °C. The minimum temperature increased more than the maximum temperature. Kasali experienced one extreme dry year and four moderate ones between 1987 and 2017. Above 70% of the households spend longer hours collecting water during dry years than wet years. The AC of households to water scarcity was low and drought negatively impacted water availability.

Between adaptive capacity and action: new insights into climate change adaptation at the household scale

Research on social vulnerability and adaptation to climate change assumes that increasing amounts of adaptive capacity increase the likelihood of actions to adapt to climate change. We test this assumption as it applies at the scale of households, through a study of the relationship between adaptive capacity and household actions to adapt to wildfire risk in Mount Dandenong, Australia. Here we show a weak relationship exists between adaptive capacity and adaptation, such that high adaptive capacity does not clearly result in a correspondingly high level of adaptation. Three factors appear to mediate the relationship between household adaptive capacity and adaptation: their attitude to risk, their experience of risk, and their expectations of authorities. The findings suggest that to understand the adaptation practices of households, greater attention needs to be paid to socio-psychological factors that trigger people to apply their available capacities.

Livestock diversification prospects for climate change adaptation in Dangila district, Ethiopia.

Climate change is expected to increase weather variability and incidences of extreme events, which will have an impact on livelihoods and wellbeing. This study was intended to assess the role of livestock diversification in minimizing climate change adverse impacts on livelihood assets in Dangila district, Ethiopia. A random sampling technique was used, and 107 sample households were selected. Primary data were collected through field visit and interview, whereas secondary data were collected from the district agricultural office and meteorological stations. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple linear regressions were used for testing the hypotheses. Accordingly, the results revealed that weather shocks affected livelihood assets negatively and significantly (β = - .157, p < 0.05) than other shocks. There has been a significant positive interaction effect (β = .197, p < 0.05) between adaptive capacity and weather shock which implies that a household's adaptive capacity (through livestock diversification) counteracts the adverse effects of weather shocks on livelihood assets. Cattle population size has decreased by 19.8% from 2008 to 2017, which infers that reductions in rainfall amount and variation drive the downward trend in cattle number. To conclude, the efforts, which were achieved in terms of sustainable adaptation practices that enhance the resilience of household's livelihood assets, were not adequate. Therefore, to further enhance households' adaptive capacity, improvement in livestock diversification through the provision of a package of livestock species and access to credit for youths were recommended.

Food Security and Rural Livelihoods in the Doldrums: Exploring Alternatives for Sanyati through Sustainable Development Goals

The topical issue of sustainable development has received significant attention from scholars, social commentators and decision-makers, yet it seems there is a gap with regard to the examination of alternatives and sustainable methods of combating food insecurity. This article makes a number of observations that point to a deepening food insecurity, and it makes recommendations to avert further catastrophes. Findings from the study indicate that the Sanyati district in Zimbabwe faces perennial food shortages and relies on government food handouts, drought relief and donor food aid. The study found that command agriculture (a government initiative) is perceived as a catalyst for ensuring food security and nutrition and enhancing self-sufficiency among smallholder farmers in rural communities. Knowledge of sustainable development goals can lead to an expanded understanding of food security in general and the manifestations of alternative rural livelihoods strategies in particular. In this article, we recommend the implementation of climate-smart agriculture at local and national levels to help farmers adapt to the changing climatic conditions. However, there is a need to make subsidised inputs available in time so as to increase household adaptive capacity and improve livelihoods.

Sustainable Livelihoods-Based Assessment of Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change: The Case of Organic and Conventional Vegetable Farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet, Philippines

Climate change adaptation is vital for farmers in developing countries due to the high vulnerability of agricultural livelihoods. Scientific literature proposed that organic farming is a promising adaptation strategy, but micro-level studies are lacking. This study compared the adaptive capacity to climate risks of organic and conventional vegetable farmers in La Trinidad, Benguet in the Philippines. Guided by the Sustainable Livelihoods framework, thirty variables under the five livelihood capitals were used to compute Household Adaptive Capacity Index (HACI). Organic farming households have higher adaptive capacity than the conventional group, and have higher natural, financial, human, and social capital. The higher adaptive capacity of organic farmers was due to farm practices related to organic agriculture such as crop diversification, sustainable land management, and participation in organizations. This indicated that organic farming potentially enhances adaptive capacity of vegetable farming households. Findings support literature on the contribution of organic farming to the resilience of agricultural systems. Increased support toward higher adoption of organic farming in areas with similar context is recommended for adaptive management to climate change.

Livelihood Trajectories in a Context of Repeated Displacement: Empirical Evidence from Rwanda

Displacement, forced migration, and resettlement in Africa have been attributed to a variety of causes and is disrupting all aspects of people’s lives, breaking social, cultural and economic networks that are critical to sustaining livelihoods. Rwanda is one of the countries in Africa with a long history of multiple displacements, and the life trajectories of many Rwandans are characterised by multiple experiences of displacement, and involuntary migration. Although many have researched the effects of displacement on people’s livelihoods from both an academic, as well as a practitioner’s viewpoint, less is known about the effects of multiple and repeated displacements over time on people’s livelihood. Instead of treating each displacement separately, this article aims to analyse the effects of repeated displacement the livelihoods and adaptive capacity of households in Rwanda. To this purpose, six months of fieldwork were conducted in the north-western region of Rwanda, collecting data from a household livelihood survey, household livelihood and mobility histories, and focus group discussions. The research highlights the importance of social and human capital as crucial to people’s resilience. However, the successive loss of natural capital in combination with changing social and economic conditions diminishes the ability of many households to keep employing these capitals to reconstruct a sustainable livelihood. Forced to become increasingly creative and flexible in their coping strategies, many households employ mobility as a survival mechanism to spread risks.