Livelihood vulnerability to climate change: Indexes and insights from two ethnic minority communities in Central Vietnam

Climate shocks and responses: Perspectives and experiences of ethnic minority farmers in rural mountainous regions of Central Vietnam

“…We assume that household adaptation options to CC depend more on ethnic and custom differences than locations because the Dong Giang and Bac Tra My districts share similar characteristics of the upland agroecology in terms of topography and climate. This is similar to Phuong et al‘s (2023) study in two mountainous districts of Thua Thien Hue province [ 10 ]. Another reason is that the population of other ethnicities in these two areas is small, scattered, and isolated, leading to difficulty to reach them.…”

“…Economic status (or household condition) is also hypothesized to be a significant determinant of households' adaptation decisions. Many authors agreed that affluent farming households can better adapt to CC due to their higher financial and physical (land, property) capital [ 10 , 39 ]. Household size and agricultural labor are important factors affecting the ability of farmers to apply adaptation measures in rural areas.…”

“…Some scholars have examined CC at the macro-level, where policy recommendations and managerial implications have been clarified [ [1] , [2] , [3] ], while others have placed it on the micro-level with specific references to local knowledge, community livelihoods and resilience, assessment of social vulnerability and its impacts on agriculture, environment and local economy aspects [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] ]. Although a myriad of studies on CC are globally recorded, the recent report by United Nations Climate Change [ 9 ], emphasized that adaptation action guides require special consideration of vulnerable communities and exposed regions including ethnic minority farmers (EMFs) in developing countries, who are more vulnerable than other members of the society due to their limited economic status and capacity [ 7 , 10 , 11 ]. This implies that more specific studies focusing on these subjects are required to supplement and deepen the understanding of ethnic minority communities, creating effective pathways toward more equitable and sustainable development [ 9 ].…”

“…These effects are exacerbated in remote mountainous regions due to their unstable geology and fragile ecosystems [ 12 , 13 ]. More importantly, these areas feature a large distribution of ethnic minorities, who are often identified as the poorest with low education, lack of opportunity, and limited access to public services [ 7 , 10 , 12 , 13 ]. Vietnam is made up of 54 ethnicities, of which the Kinh (78.32 million people) are the majority, and the remaining 53 ethnic minority groups account for 14.6% of the total population with 73% of them living in poverty [ 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Kieu et al (2020) argued that Northern upland farmers are highly aware of the CC shocks; thus, they apply multiple adaptation initiatives in agriculture, including changing cropping patterns, using a variety of native plants and local livestock, crop variation, and intercropping [ 21 ]. However, on closer examination of the current literature, most concentrate on the Northern mountainous regions [ 4 , [22] , [23] , [24] ], while it is fairly rare to find research in the Central mountainous areas, especially for ethnic minority communities, with a few recent exceptions [ 8 , 10 , 19 ].…”