IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/masfgc/v26y2021i6d10.1007_s11027-021-09962-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An integrated approach for the identification and prioritization of areas based on their livelihood vulnerability index: a case study of agro-pastoral community from Western Indian Himalaya

Author

Listed:
  • Naveen Chandra Joshi

    (Wildlife Institute of India)

  • G. S. Rawat

    (Wildlife Institute of India)

Abstract

Recent changes in climatic conditions are expected to intensify the existing risk of hunger and malnutrition along with the vulnerability of livelihood in the developing nations, more so on the fragile Hindu-Kush Himalaya. Many communities in this region subsist on agro-pastoral practices, which hinge upon seasonal rhythmic cooperative farming and traditional knowledge associated with these practices. With the rapid change in socio-cultural practices coupled with changing climate, agro-pastoral production has declined in many areas. Hill farming cannot resist even a small degree of disturbance as steep slopes and terrain conditions already limit hill agriculture’s capacity. However, quantitative information in these aspects is lacking. Livelihood vulnerability assessment methods have emerged as an important tool for the identification of areas requiring immediate intervention. The different results from different methods make it difficult for policymakers to prioritize areas requiring direct intervention. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the livelihood vulnerability of an agro-pastoral community viz. Barpatiyas of the western (Indian) Himalayan region by two widespread methods and suggest an integrated approach for prioritization for interventions. The vulnerability assessment in the current study was broadly based on the IPCC’s definition of vulnerability as a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Of 832 households in 13 villages, 303 households were interviewed to assess their livelihood vulnerability due to climate change and its socio-cultural impact. Analysis of data reveals that the households located at lower altitudes are more at risk of vulnerability than settlements at higher altitudes in the Himalaya. The agro-pastoral-based livelihood was most vulnerable due to natural calamities, followed by water security, climatic stress and social networks. The observed patterns were complex and interlinked such as their remote habitations. A lack of linear infrastructure causes a high rate of out-migration, which further causes the loss of their traditional knowledge. High dependence of the community for livelihood on the climate-sensitive system such as agriculture and increased exposure to natural disasters is noticeable. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Naveen Chandra Joshi & G. S. Rawat, 2021. "An integrated approach for the identification and prioritization of areas based on their livelihood vulnerability index: a case study of agro-pastoral community from Western Indian Himalaya," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 26(6), pages 1-36, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:masfgc:v:26:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s11027-021-09962-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11027-021-09962-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11027-021-09962-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11027-021-09962-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nani Maiya Sujakhu & Sailesh Ranjitkar & Rabin Raj Niraula & Muhammad Asad Salim & Arjumand Nizami & Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt & Jianchu Xu, 2018. "Determinants of livelihood vulnerability in farming communities in two sites in the Asian Highlands," Water International, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(2), pages 165-182, February.
    2. Rupsha Banerjee, 2015. "Farmers’ perception of climate change, impact and adaptation strategies: a case study of four villages in the semi-arid regions of India," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(3), pages 2829-2845, February.
    3. Suman Aryal & Geoff Cockfield & Tek Maraseni, 2014. "Vulnerability of Himalayan transhumant communities to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 193-208, July.
    4. David García-del-Amo & P. Graham Mortyn & Victoria Reyes-García, 2020. "Including indigenous and local knowledge in climate research: an assessment of the opinion of Spanish climate change researchers," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 67-88, May.
    5. Shobha Poudel & Shinya Funakawa & Hitoshi Shinjo & Bhogendra Mishra, 2020. "Understanding households’ livelihood vulnerability to climate change in the Lamjung district of Nepal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 8159-8182, December.
    6. Alwang, Jeffrey & Siegel, Paul B. & Jorgensen, Steen L., 2001. "Vulnerability : a view from different disciplines," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 23304, The World Bank.
    7. Sophie Webber, 2013. "Performative Vulnerability: Climate Change Adaptation Policies and Financing in Kiribati," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(11), pages 2717-2733, November.
    8. Jianchu Xu & R. Edward Grumbine, 2014. "Building ecosystem resilience for climate change adaptation in the Asian highlands," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(6), pages 709-718, November.
    9. Hao Yu & Bing Wang & Yue-Jun Zhang & Shouyang Wang & Yi-Ming Wei, 2013. "Public perception of climate change in China: results from the questionnaire survey," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(1), pages 459-472, October.
    10. Mendelsohn, Robert & Dinar, Ariel & Williams, Larry, 2006. "The distributional impact of climate change on rich and poor countries," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 159-178, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huixia Zou & Shaowei Li & Huiyuan Zou & Wei Sun & Yingnan Niu & Chengqun Yu, 2022. "Livelihood Sustainability of Herder Households in North Tibet, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rijan Bhakta Kayastha & Woo-Kyun Lee & Nischal Shrestha & Sonam Wangyel Wang, 2023. "Assessing the Livelihood Vulnerability of Nomads to Changing Climate in the Third Pole Region of Nepal," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Xue Yang & Shili Guo & Xin Deng & Wei Wang & Dingde Xu, 2021. "Study on Livelihood Vulnerability and Adaptation Strategies of Farmers in Areas Threatened by Different Disaster Types under Climate Change," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Huizhao Yang & Sailesh Ranjitkar & Deli Zhai & Micai Zhong & Stefanie Daniela Goldberg & Muhammad Asad Salim & Zhenghong Wang & Yi Jiang & Jianchu Xu, 2019. "Role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Seasonal Calendars in the Context of Climate Change: A Case Study from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-22, June.
    4. Somenath Halder, 2022. "A survival vulnerability index (SuVI) for an outlawed vocation: empirical evidence from snake charmer community, West Bengal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(10), pages 12131-12161, October.
    5. Mofoluwawo Esther Omoniyi, 2020. "Sensitizing Nigerian Citizens on the Effects of Climate Change: Challenges for Social Studies Curriculum Planners and Implementers," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 4(9), pages 699-703, September.
    6. Alejandro Lopez-Feldman, 2013. "Climate change, agriculture, and poverty: A household level analysis for rural Mexico," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(2), pages 1126-1139.
    7. Ana Raquel Nunes, 2021. "Exploring the interactions between vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to extreme temperatures," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 109(3), pages 2261-2293, December.
    8. Freshwater, David, 2014. "Vulnerability and Resilience: Two Dimensions of Rurality," Staff Papers 174103, University of Kentucky, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    9. Matthias Schmidt & Hermann Held & Elmar Kriegler & Alexander Lorenz, 2013. "Climate Policy Under Uncertain and Heterogeneous Climate Damages," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(1), pages 79-99, January.
    10. Caviedes, Julián & Ibarra, José Tomás & Calvet-Mir, Laura & Álvarez-Fernández, Santiago & Junqueira, André Braga, 2024. "Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes is positively associated with livelihood resilience in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    11. Maithili Ramachandran & K.S. Kavi Kumar & Brinda Viswanathan, 2006. "Vulnerability to Chronic Energy Deficiency: An Empirical Analysis of Women in Uttar Pradesh, India," Working Papers 2006-012, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    12. Lv, Xueliang & Yu, Yue & Zhao, Xiaomeng & Si, Deng-Kui, 2023. "Minimum wage and household economic vulnerability: Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 624-646.
    13. David Klenert & Franziska Funke & Linus Mattauch & Brian O’Callaghan, 2020. "Five Lessons from COVID-19 for Advancing Climate Change Mitigation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 751-778, August.
    14. Nicolas Taconet & Aurélie Méjean & Céline Guivarch, 2020. "Influence of climate change impacts and mitigation costs on inequality between countries," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 15-34, May.
    15. Channing Arndt & Felix Asante & James Thurlow, 2015. "Implications of Climate Change for Ghana’s Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-18, June.
    16. Jawid, Asadullah & Khadjavi, Menusch, 2019. "Adaptation to climate change in Afghanistan: Evidence on the impact of external interventions," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 64-82.
    17. Karine Constant & Marion Davin, 2019. "Unequal Vulnerability to Climate Change and the Transmission of Adverse Effects Through International Trade," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(2), pages 727-759, October.
    18. Keim, Jan & Müller, Susan & Dey, Pascal, 2024. "Whatever the problem, entrepreneurship is the solution! Confronting the panacea myth of entrepreneurship with structural injustice," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    19. Don Fullerton, 2011. "Six Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(6), pages 923-929, June.
    20. Osawe, Osayanmon Wellington, 2013. "Livelihood Vulnerability and Migration Decision Making Nexus: The Case of Rural Farm Households in Nigeria," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161628, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:masfgc:v:26:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s11027-021-09962-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.