Study on Livelihood Vulnerability and Adaptation Strategies of Farmers in Areas Threatened by Different Disaster Types under Climate Change

Abstract

The intensification of global climate change leads to frequent mountain torrents, landslides, debris flows and other disasters, which seriously threaten the safety of residents’ lives and property. However, few studies have compared and analyzed the livelihood vulnerability and adaptation strategies of farmers in different disaster-threatened areas under the background of climate change. Based on survey data of 327 households in the areas threatened by mountain floods, landslides and debris flow in Sichuan Province, this study analyzed the characteristics of livelihood vulnerability and adaptation strategies of households in the areas threatened by different disaster types and constructed multinomial logistic regression models to explore their correlations. The findings show that: (1) The livelihood vulnerability indices of farmers in different hazard types showed different characteristics. Among them, the livelihood vulnerability index of farmers in landslide-threatened zones is the highest, followed by the livelihood vulnerability index of farmers in debris-flow-threatened zones, and finally the livelihood vulnerability index of farmers in flash flood threat zones. At the same time, all three natural hazards show a trend of higher vulnerability in the sensitivity dimension than in the exposure and livelihood resilience dimensions. (2) The nonfarming livelihood strategy is the main livelihood strategy for farmers in different disaster-type-threatened areas. At the same time, the vulnerability of farmers choosing the nonfarming livelihood strategy is much higher than that of farmers choosing the part-time livelihood strategy and pure farming livelihood strategy, and the vulnerability of sensitivity dimension is higher than that of the exposure dimension and livelihood resilience dimension. (3) For farmers in landslide- and debris-flow-threatened areas, livelihood resilience is an important factor affecting their livelihood strategy. There was a positive correlation between livelihood resilience and farmers’ choice of pure agricultural livelihood strategies in these two natural-disaster-threatened areas. This study deepens our understanding of the characteristics and relationships of farmers’ livelihood vulnerability and adaptation strategies under different disaster types in the context of climate change, and then provides the reference basis for the formulation of livelihood-adaptive capacity promotion-related policy.