Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Vietnam is a country which is viewed as one the most vulnerable in the world to the impacts of climate change. However, the main focus of many stakeholders have been on the country's coastal regions, neglecting the effects of climate change on the mountainous communities. As the effects of climate change are becoming more severe, extreme weather-patterns such as drought, storms and floods are becoming more common. Climate change is impacting the livelihoods of people in the mountainous region, who are primarily dependent on forestry for their livelihoods, by disturbing production, creating increased risk for investments and economic loss. Therefore, people need to adapt to these changing circumstances in various ways to minimize risks to their livelihoods.

For a long time, women’s perspectives and circumstances have been missing from the research on adaptation in the mountanoius regions of Hue, which is the area of study for this thesis. Thus, half of the population's perceptions and interests are missing from the analysis and solutions. This paper explores issues connected to livelihood strategies, gender and adaptation in the mountainous communities of Thua Thien province, in Hue, Vietnam.

The findings of this study shows that the livelihoods of the rural communities in the mountainous villages of Khe Tran, Doi and A Sap are diverse, and changing in response to the effects of climate change. People are adjusting the agrarian production, but also shifting part of their income from natural-based sources to non-agrarian practices. Furthermore, this study shows that women and men are impacted differently by climate change because of prevailing norms in regard to production, environmental protection and domestic labor.