Household level vulnerability in an Indian mangrove socio-ecological system

ABSTRACT

The Sundarbans (West Bengal) is highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological hazards such as coastal storm surges, flooding, cyclones and other climatic events. These events often lead to loss of productivity in ecosystem-based livelihoods, biodiversity, ecosystem goods and services. Communities directly dependent on socio-ecological systems for primary livelihood need to strengthen their resilience for early recovery and prepare for the impacts of future hazards. Current policies often assume that households are equally vulnerable to hazards. However, there is no robust empirical study available on the level and distribution of vulnerability amongst marginalised households. This study compared the levels of vulnerability amongst 500 households in five villages situated in the Mangrove ecosystem of the Indian Sundarban using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVIs). The results uncover significant variations in levels and distribution of vulnerability between the villages. These findings could be used to tailor need-based bespoke adaptation and mitigation interventions to combat climate-induced variability or hazard events in the future. In order to optimise the benefits of policy or program for strengthening resilience of these households – this article recommends that policymakers consider micro-level differences in levels and distribution of vulnerability.

KEYWORDS:

• Hydro- meteorological hazards
• vulnerability
• climate Change
• livelihood Vulnerability Index
• sustainable Development

Aknowledgements

This research was supported by the three-year studentship provided by DFL-NI and the 75th Anniversary Fieldwork Prize, School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen University Belfast. I am grateful to my supervisor’s Dr Satish Kumar, and Dr Julian Orford for their support. Extensive field work in the Sunderbans was made possible by the generosity of Shaswati Sen of the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), West Bengal, India, Sukumar-da field worker, WWF, Ujjwal Bhandari, field assistant, and Dr Sunando Bandyopadhy of Calcutta University. I want to thank the Directorate of Census Operations West Bengal for providing access to useful census data for this study. The author would like to extend special acknowledgement to the 500 families from 24 South Parganas, Sundarban, India for their support and care in the field.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.