Assessment of District Level Climate Vulnerability of Mizoram, India: Water Resources Approach

Abstract

Mizoram, one of the north-eastern states in India, predominantly consists of hilly terrain with tribal populations living in villages scattered along the upper reaches. The high dependency of people on natural resources and rainfed agricultural practices relying wholly on the southwest monsoon make the region highly vulnerable to climate change exacerbated by poor development infrastructure, land use and land cover change, forest loss and degradation. The vulnerability of the state needs to be addressed to assist in developing practical and reliable plans to increase resilience against long term climate change. The intrinsic properties corresponding to sensitivity and adaptive capacity of the state in terms of domestic water resources availability are focused here to assess inherent vulnerability to unprecedented changes than can be caused by climate stress. The assessment follows an analytical framework by selecting indicators that define vulnerability criteria across all the districts in the state. Indicators were given weights per the best reflection to ground reality by means of stakeholder consultations. Composite Vulnerability Index (CVI) was calculated for each district across all indicators. Districts were ranked and categorised into high, medium, and low vulnerability based on their CVI values. Drivers of vulnerability were determined by calculating the contributions of each individual indicator to overall vulnerability. The calculated CVI was highest for Champhai making it the most vulnerable district. CVI was lowest for Mamit making it the least vulnerable district. Across all districts, limited availability of perennial springs per household, less forest cover and limited availability of ground water resources were the top drivers of overall vulnerability.