Household types as a tool to understand adaptive capacity: case studies from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Bangladesh and India

Abstract

Supporting smallholder households to adapt to climate variability is a high priority for development agencies and national governments. Efforts to support climate adaptation in developing countries occur within highly dynamic contexts. Macro-level changes in national and regional economies manifest in dynamic local conditions, such as migration, changing household labour dynamics, market access and land-use options. Research aimed at developing adaptation options is often focused on particular activities or industries and struggles to take into account the broader, interrelated suite of household livelihood activities or the non-climate stressors driving change and adaptation. This paper explores the use of household types to (a) understand the diversity of household circumstances and (b) place agricultural adaptation options within the broader context of household livelihoods. Results from application in four countries are discussed, which highlight the utility of the method and identify broader level trends and drivers that are common challenges (experienced differently) across multiple contexts.

Keywords:

• livelihoods
• adaptation
• household types
• Cambodia
• Lao PDR
• Bangladesh
• India

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the households, communities and broader stakeholder groups who so generously shared their time and knowledge to participate in this research, and project staff who supported data collection and analysis. Our thanks to Lucy Carter, Bruce Taylor and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Notes

1. Scheduled Tribes are another delineation within this system. There were no STs in the study area.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted as part of the ‘Adapting to Climate change in Asia’ project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.