Climate change resilience and adaption of ethnic minority communities in the upland area in Thừa Thiên-Huế province, Vietnam

Abstract

Changing climate patterns and increases in climate extremes pose new challenges to livelihoods of ethnic communities in the upland area in Thừa Thiên-Huế (TTH) province. Unpredictability and extreme events have had adverse effects on both farming and income of many ethnic minority households who are already more likely to be vulnerable due to socio-economic and cultural marginalization. Promoting household resilience to climate extremes has emerged as a key development priority for those living in this area. Using data from a household survey conducted in two upland districts of TTH province (Nam Đông and A Lưới), this study employed FAO's resilience framework to measure household climate change resilience of different ethnic groups and a Poison regression model to identify determinants of household adaptation. Results showed that ethnic minority households had relatively low resilience to climate change and variability with the resilience index only 0.428. Due to geographic isolation, agriculture-dependent ethnic minority households in A Lưới were least resilient to climate change. Results suggest that interventions aimed at promoting climate resilience for ethnic minority households should focus on increasing people's knowledge of climate change and associated impacts and risks; and improving household income, savings and strengthen household asset base. Almost all households in the study areas have adopted adaptation measures, such as adjusting the seasonal calendar for crop production; using local crop varieties; practicing mixed cropping; and mulching. Education level, climate change awareness and risk perception of the household head, household income source and ability to access credit were key elements of households' choice of adaptation strategies.

Considering Ecosystem Services in Food System Resilience

“…are a method to prevent net losses in crop yield and can be enhanced by the additional biomass produced from wild plants and animals. In Africa, the links between tree cover, access to food, and improved dietary diversity are also becoming increasingly evident [ 111 , 112 ]. Pandey et al concluded that rainwater harvesting systems also functioned as a climate change adaptation strategy, contributing to resilience [ 113 , 114 ].…”

“…[ 130 , 131 ]. Territorial management practices incorporate a broad scope of livelihood activities, such as gathering, hunting, fishing, and farming adjusted to seasonal cycles and natural patterns observed in ecosystems [ 112 , 132 ]. Wind, water, and solar energy stored in firewood or other biomass meets the basic needs for food processing, heating, and cooking.…”

A Method to Assess Agroecosystem Resilience to Climate Variability

“…The AgRI was designed using the ecological social system approach, as proposed by [24,[54][55][56], and it is composed of forty (40) indicators that describe key aspects for increasing or decreasing the inherent or acquired resilience of agroecosystems through attributes related to adaptability, transformability, and as proposed by [9,25,26,47], and the general principles of resilience presented by [9,167]. The AgRI key indicators are easy to use for those with high, moderate, and low levels of education or technical or professional training, which is very common in developing countries.…”

Characterization of Small Scale Farmers’ Low Levels of Adoption to Crop Insurance as an Adaptation Strategy to Climate Variability in Nyandarua County of Kenya

“…Majority of small scale farmers in Kenya are poor and their limited capital reduces the amount of disposable resources they can invest in proper adaptation activities (Oluoko-Odingo 2011). These challenges make the small small scale farmers to come up with poor decisions regarding the most appropriate adaptation measures and proper timing to apply them (Sen et al, 2020). These challenges increase small scale farmers' vulnerability to climate variation (Wambua et al 2008).…”

“…One of the more promising proposals for reforming the crop farming sector against the effects of climate variability is crop insurance programs (Sen et al, 2020). However this adaptation strategy is greatly influenced by willingness and ability to adopt crop Insurance as an adaptation strategy.…”