Quantifying household vulnerability triggered by drought: evidence from rural India

Drought is a complex, slow-onset phenomenon that imposes serious challenges on human beings and ecosystems. The vulnerability associated with drought may vary at different social, geographical and temporal scales. These differences emphasize the need for regional-level vulnerability assessments, whi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate and development 2017-11, Vol.9 (7), p.618-633
Main Authors: Sam, Anu Susan, Kumar, Ranjit, Kächele, Harald, Müller, Klaus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
adaptive capacity
assessment
Demographics
Drought
Ecosystems
Environmental impact
Environmental risk
exposure
Households
Housing
natural disaster
Natural resources
Policies
Poverty
Profiles
Ratios
Regional analysis
risk
Risk assessment
Rural areas
sensitivity
Social organization
Socioeconomic factors
Socioeconomics
Sociology
Vulnerability
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Summary:Drought is a complex, slow-onset phenomenon that imposes serious challenges on human beings and ecosystems. The vulnerability associated with drought may vary at different social, geographical and temporal scales. These differences emphasize the need for regional-level vulnerability assessments, which in turn helps to formulate efficient adaptation policies and strategies that are suitable for the region to mitigate the drought risk. The objective of this paper is to quantify the livelihood and socio-economic vulnerability of rural households that are affected by drought in rural India. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index and Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index were applied to analyse the vulnerability of rural households. A sample size of 157 rural households from the state of Odisha in India was surveyed in 2015. Socio-demographic characteristics such as low literacy rates, high dependency ratios and weak housing structures make people more vulnerable, whereas access to social networks plays a significant role in supporting poor rural households. The research concludes that the impacts of drought make people who are already vulnerable due to poverty, inequality and marginalization even more vulnerable. The outcomes of this study may be considered in formulating effective coping strategies and policies that may help mitigate the drought risk. The findings and recommendations of this study will find applicability in other rural, natural resource-dependent countries with similar socio-economic profiles such as other south Asian countries.
ISSN:1756-5529
1756-5537
DOI:10.1080/17565529.2016.1193461