Assessment of Local Adaptive Capacity of Mountain Farmers: A Way Forward for Sustainable Livelihood Development

This study aims to understand the perception of mountain farmers towards the local adaptive capacity at a household level in an agro-ecological landscape. An indicator-based assessment is conducted to examine the 6 determinants and 27 indicators to give a local adaptive capacity index of the villages around Govind Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, located in the Indian Himalayan region. The findings indicate that, though the connected and isolated villages have a low and very low adaptive capacity, respectively, the effect of various determinants on the local people varies among the village settlements, based on their socio-economic capacity. Despite the government endeavours to build the livelihood of mountain farmers through different programmes and policies, it still lacks proactive decision-making. The study suggests for an integrated assessment and sustainable enhancement of the landscape as a whole, with a focus on community-level adaptation strategies. It draws attention to the need for enhanced collaboration between research institutions, government and private sectors with the mountain community in the centre.

ASSESSING THE ADAPTIVE CAPACITY OF HOUSEHOLDS TO CLIMATE CHANGE: A CASE STUDY IN QUANG DIEN DISTRICT, THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE

<p class="MDPI17abstract"><strong>Abstract: </strong>This study aims to identify the adaptation capacity undertaken by households in response to natural disasters and climate changes (CC). A total of 100 households in two communes including Quang Phuoc and Quang Cong, Quang Dien district were interviewed. The findings indicate that in the last few years, these communes have been badly affected by various types of natural hazards, including typhoons, floods, droughts and, and extremely cold weather. The study demonstrates that the adaptive capacity index in Quang Cong is significantly lower than that in Quang Phuoc (0.50 and 0.52). Also, the current adaptation actions of local households in response to natural disasters and CC have focused on short-term actions only. On the basis of the findings, the study proposes key recommendations to local households in Quang Dien district to effectively mitigate and adapt to natural disasters and CC. The recommendations encompass three groups, namely (i) raising awareness and understanding about CC; (ii) improving the infrastructure system; and (iii) diversifying livelihood strategies to increase income.</p><p class="MDPI17abstract"><strong>Keywords:</strong> climate change, natural disasters, adaptive capacity, index</p>

Exposer Intensity, Vulnerability Index And Landscape Change Assessment In Olomouc, Czech Republic

The objective of this study is vulnerability and exposer intensity due to land use change in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Vulnerability assessment with exposer intensity to land use/cover change is an important step for enhancing the understanding and decision-making to reduce vulnerability. This study work includes quantification of Exposure Index (EI), Sensitivity Index (SI) and Adaptive Capacity Index (AI). EI is based on intensity of land use/cover change, SI and AI based on natural factors such as elevation, slope, vegetation and land use/cover. Vulnerability Index (VI) derived on the quantification of SI and AI and compared from 1991, 2001 and 2013. Comparing of EI and VI for last three decades, settlements have highest vulnerability index due to high socio-economic activities and water have lowest vulnerability index due to less human interferences. Agriculture has highest exposer index and second highest vulnerability, which show its high rate of exploitation and production. In the study areas, vulnerability tends to increase with the increase of exposure to land use change, but can peak off once the land use start to benefit socio-economically from development. Only in this way we can enhance the adaptive capacity of study area to use change of land.