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 socio-economic situation of the approximately 210 million people who reside in the HKH. Specifically, data on livelihood vulnerability are lacking. As part of the Himalaya Climate Change Adaptation Programme, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, in consultation with regional and international partners, has developed the Multidimensional Livelihood Vulnerability Index (MLVI), a measure to explore and describe livelihood vulnerability to climatic, environmental, and socio-economic change in the HKH region. This paper documents how the MLVI was developed and demonstrates the utility of this approach by using primary household survey data of 16 selected districts of three sub-basins in the HKH region. The analysis gives important clues about differences in the intensity and composition of multidimensional livelihood vulnerability across these locations that should be useful to decision makers to identify areas of intervention and guide their measures to reduce vulnerability.
Migration is one way in which rural households can seek to reduce their vulnerability to climate change. However, migration also carries risks and costs, such that vulnerability may not be reduced. This article constructs an index of rural households' vulnerability to extreme weather events, in order to explore how key components of vulnerability relate to migration. Applied to case studies in China and India, the study finds that the effect of remittances is non-linear. Although overall, in Assam, few differences were found in the vulnerability of households that did and did not receive remittances, in Yunnan, remittance-recipient households were found to have less adaptive capacity in response to drought. However, those who had received remittances over longer periods were found to have improved adaptive capacity in both case studies, and in Yunnan, their exposure to such events was also lower. Meanwhile in Assam, longer distance migration was associated with reduced exposure to flooding and with specific forms of adaptation. The vulnerability index developed has capacity to be used in assessments of effects of migration on vulnerability elsewhere.
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