Natural hazard's effect and farmers' perception: Perspectives from flash floods and landslides in remotely mountainous regions of Vietnam

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2021-03, Vol.759, p.142656-142656, Article 142656
• Main Authors: Pham, Nga Thanh Thi, Nong, Duy, Garschagen, Matthias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Flash floods; Landslides; Multinomial Logit model; Perception; Vietnam; Yen Bai province
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142656

Understanding perceptions of indigenous people toward natural disasters is essential in social and environmental research to facilitate further studies in investigating the impacts of the events, as well as in examining the adaptive strategies and having implications for policymakers and relevant institutional bodies. We took this essential feature to study the perceptions of local people toward the two common natural disasters: flash floods and landslides. We selected the case study in three communes (An Binh, An Thinh, and Dai Son) in Van Yen district, Yen Bai province in Vietnam. This is because flash floods and landslides are two frequent natural disasters that highly adversely affect these areas where major poor ethnic minority communities reside. We conducted six Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and household surveys (405 households) in 2016. The results showed that a decline in productivity, a decrease in income, more hard-working conditions, and an increase in daily expenses were the most observed impacts of these natural disasters in the communes. The analysis also revealed that almost 45% of farmers perceived an increasing trend in the frequency and impacts of flash floods and landslides over the past 15 years. A Multinomial Logit (MNL) model was used to analyze the determinants of farmers' awareness of flash floods and landslides, which indicated that farmers' perceptions of flash floods and landslides are associated with socio-economic characteristics, such as gender, agricultural experience, ethnic groups, climate information, and household income conditions. We suggested that local governments should pay more attention to strengthen farmers' awareness to help improve perceptions of local people toward common natural disasters so that they would gain better adaptive capacities and become more sustainable, which are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. [Display omitted] •Farmers' cognition on flash floods and landslides in Vietnam is examined.•Multinomial Logit models are used for investigating indigenous farmers' perceptions.•Local farmers' awareness varies across different agro-ecological areas.•Socioeconomic features are determining forces in explaining farmers' awareness.•Findings can be the references for policy-making in regions with similar conditions.