Author: Thi Tinh Chi Le
Le, Thi Tinh Chi, 2018 Livelihood vulnerability assessment to climate change in a Vietnam coastal province, Flinders University, College of Science and Engineering
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Thua Thien Hue is a coastal province located in the central region of Vietnam. Due to the long coastline combined with a large lagoon system, this province has heavily suffered from impacts of natural disasters and climate extremes. The coastal area in this province is densely populated with the main livelihood means being agriculture and aquaculture which are highly depend on natural resources, for example, water, soil, humidity as well as the weather conditions. Consequently, these coastal livelihoods have been increasingly impacted by climate change and variability. This research aims to assess the livelihood vulnerability to climate change of coastal communities in Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam, in order to contribute to propose proper livelihood adaptation options for the study area.
The main method that this research used was the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) developed by Hahn, Riederer and Foster (2009) for calculating the vulnerability of the livelihoods of the coastal communes to climate change. In addition, the statistic software (SPSS) and sensitivity analysis (SA) also are used to examine the statistical differences in vulnerability level of these communes as well as assess the influence of sub-indicators in the LVI model to the vulnerability of communes. The data used for this research, including the 5 coastal communes of Thua Thien Hue province, is extracted from the large survey database of the project ‘Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel’ (TVSEP panel wave 6), under the acceptance for accessing from the project manager.
The research found that the vulnerability of the five communes were different in terms of specific sub-indicators and major indicators. Most significantly, there was difference in the vulnerability level of each commune between the LVI and LVI_IPCC model. The vulnerability of each commune was influenced by varied sub-indicators which constitute major indicators in the LVI. Both LVI and LVI_IPCC models reflect that choosing the sub-indicators for each major indicator has significant influences on the vulnerability of communes. The results have potential to contribute to the policy development in order to make priorities in increasing the resilience and ability to adapt to climate change impacts for each commune.
Keywords: Livelihood vulnerability, climate change, coastal province, Vietnam
Subject: Environmental management thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2018
School: College of Science and Engineering
Supervisor: David Bass