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An Approach to Measure Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas

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Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation

Abstract

In recent years the population of the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) has been confronted with rapid social, economic, demographic, and political changes. In addition, the region is particularly vulnerable to climate change. However, there is a scarcity of cohesive information on the state of the environment and on the socioeconomic situation of the approximately 210 million people who reside in the HKH. Specifically, data on livelihood vulnerability and responsive behavior is lacking. To address this gap the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has developed the Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity Assessment (VACA), a research tool to explore livelihood vulnerability to environmental and socioeconomic change as well as adaptive capacity in the mountain context. As part of the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP), ICIMOD has carried out a representative quantitative survey that interviewed about 6,100 households in three sub-basins in the HKH region: the Upper Indus sub-basin in Pakistan, the Eastern Brahmaputra sub-basin in India, and the Koshi sub-basin in Nepal. The chapter discusses the operationalization of vulnerability in the VACA questionnaires, the research design of the VACA survey, and first findings for the three sub-basins.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The authors would like to emphasize that the presented information was obtained by the respondents. In the reference period, neither local nor national authorities have declared a drought in the Eastern-Brahmaputra sub-basin.

  2. 2.

    The authors would like to emphasize that the presented information was obtained by the respondents. In the reference period, neither local nor national authorities have declared a drought in the Eastern-Brahmaputra sub-basin.

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Acknowledgements

The research for this chapter has been done as a part of the Himalayan Climate Change Adaptation Programme (HICAP), a joint program coordinated by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo (CICERO), and United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) GRID-Arendal. HICAP is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The authors express their gratitude to the colleagues of ICIMOD, CICERO, and UNEP for their guidance and comments. Particular appreciation goes to Nand Kishor Agrawal, Neera Shrestha Pradhan, Bhimsen Chaudhary, Dilli Poudel, Partha Jyoti Das, Shakila Aziz, Petra Tschakert, Michael Kollmair, Brigitte Hoermann, Valdemar Holmgren, Yukta Kumar, and Sabarnee Tuladhar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Jean-Yves Gerlitz & Soumyadeep Banerjee

  2. Garama 3C Ltd - Climate Change Consulting for Development, The Old Reading Room, 5 Recorder Road Norwich NR1 1NR, Norwich, UK

    Nick Brooks

  3. Individual Consultant, former Poverty Specialist at ICIMOD, Manila, Philippines

    Kiran Hunzai

  4. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, former Climate Change Adaptation Specialist at ICIMOD, Freiburgstrasse 130, 3003, Bern, Switzerland

    Mirjam Macchi

Authors
  1. Jean-Yves Gerlitz
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  2. Soumyadeep Banerjee
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  3. Nick Brooks
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  4. Kiran Hunzai
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  5. Mirjam Macchi
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Correspondence to Jean-Yves Gerlitz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Gerlitz, JY., Banerjee, S., Brooks, N., Hunzai, K., Macchi, M. (2015). An Approach to Measure Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38670-1_99

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