exposure and vulnerability to such hazards is required to streamline and plan these
proactive strategies especially for rural areas which are devoid of comprehensive
system for ex-ante and ex-post dealing with such catastrophe. The current study
quantifies the degree of vulnerability of rural households of and results indicate
existence of many vulnerable households to climate change and drought.
The vulnerability of marginal households is further increased due to their
inability to access pertinent information and their excessive dependence on natural
resources for earning the livelihood. The climate change impacts in the form of
drought would have a two-pronged consequence for such households through
constrained agricultural production in the first place due to less availability of
natural resource such as water and erosion of their coping capacity and social status
brought about by dearth of financial autonomy. Moreover, lower levels of literacy,
high dependency ratio, ethnic backwardness and weak housing structures may lead
to increased levels of vulnerability. As a panacea to this situation, there is a felt
need to re-focus local level coping and mitigation planning to natural disasters
involving the local community. This would require an effective transmission of
valuable information to at-risk communities along with the knowledge about
anticipated changes and associated impacts as well as the benefits of timely preparedness. Regional mitigation plans and strategies also need to build on actual
vulnerability indicators for specific region based on evidence in the context of
socioeconomic setting for that region as well as its hydro-meteorological portfolio.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
for the financial support for this research. The financial support by Stiftung Fiat Panis for the
primary data collection is also highly acknowledged. We also appreciate the cooperation of our
survey respondents in sharing their experience, household information and valid opinions data
collection phase.
References
Adger, W. N., Huq, S., Brown, K., Conway, D., & Hulme, M. (2003). Adaptation to climate
change in the developing world. Progress in Development Studies, 3, 179–195.
Aleksandrova, M., Lamers, J. P. A., Martius, C., & Tischbein, B. (2014). Rural vulnerability to
environmental change in the irrigated lowlands of Central Asia and options for policy-makers:
A review. Environmental Science & Policy, 41, 77–88.
Arora, A., Bansal, S., & Ward, P. S. (2015). Do farmers value rice varieties tolerant to droughts
and floods? Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in Odisha, India. Agricultural and
Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association Joint
Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.
Aryal, S., Cockfield, G., & Maraseni, T. N. (2014). Vulnerability of Himalayan transhumant
communities to climate change. Climatic Change, 125, 193–208.
Bardsley, D. K., & Wiseman, N. D. (2012). Climate change vulnerability and social development
for remote indigenous communities of South Australia. Global Environmental Change, 22,
713–723.
Barnett, A. (2000, June 29). Energy and the fight against poverty. Paper given as part of a series of
Economic Research Seminars at Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
424
A.S. Sam et al.
proactive strategies especially for rural areas which are devoid of comprehensive
system for ex-ante and ex-post dealing with such catastrophe. The current study
quantifies the degree of vulnerability of rural households of and results indicate
existence of many vulnerable households to climate change and drought.
The vulnerability of marginal households is further increased due to their
inability to access pertinent information and their excessive dependence on natural
resources for earning the livelihood. The climate change impacts in the form of
drought would have a two-pronged consequence for such households through
constrained agricultural production in the first place due to less availability of
natural resource such as water and erosion of their coping capacity and social status
brought about by dearth of financial autonomy. Moreover, lower levels of literacy,
high dependency ratio, ethnic backwardness and weak housing structures may lead
to increased levels of vulnerability. As a panacea to this situation, there is a felt
need to re-focus local level coping and mitigation planning to natural disasters
involving the local community. This would require an effective transmission of
valuable information to at-risk communities along with the knowledge about
anticipated changes and associated impacts as well as the benefits of timely preparedness. Regional mitigation plans and strategies also need to build on actual
vulnerability indicators for specific region based on evidence in the context of
socioeconomic setting for that region as well as its hydro-meteorological portfolio.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
for the financial support for this research. The financial support by Stiftung Fiat Panis for the
primary data collection is also highly acknowledged. We also appreciate the cooperation of our
survey respondents in sharing their experience, household information and valid opinions data
collection phase.
References
Adger, W. N., Huq, S., Brown, K., Conway, D., & Hulme, M. (2003). Adaptation to climate
change in the developing world. Progress in Development Studies, 3, 179–195.
Aleksandrova, M., Lamers, J. P. A., Martius, C., & Tischbein, B. (2014). Rural vulnerability to
environmental change in the irrigated lowlands of Central Asia and options for policy-makers:
A review. Environmental Science & Policy, 41, 77–88.
Arora, A., Bansal, S., & Ward, P. S. (2015). Do farmers value rice varieties tolerant to droughts
and floods? Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in Odisha, India. Agricultural and
Applied Economics Association and Western Agricultural Economics Association Joint
Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.
Aryal, S., Cockfield, G., & Maraseni, T. N. (2014). Vulnerability of Himalayan transhumant
communities to climate change. Climatic Change, 125, 193–208.
Bardsley, D. K., & Wiseman, N. D. (2012). Climate change vulnerability and social development
for remote indigenous communities of South Australia. Global Environmental Change, 22,
713–723.
Barnett, A. (2000, June 29). Energy and the fight against poverty. Paper given as part of a series of
Economic Research Seminars at Institute of Social Studies, The Hague.
424
A.S. Sam et al.