Livelihood vulnerability of rural households to climate variability and change: An agroecological system-based approach in northwestern Ethiopia
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.Farmers in northwestern Ethiopia face varying livelihood vulnerability due to climate change. Lowland areas show higher vulnerability and exposure, necessitating tailored adaptation strategies for mixed crop-livestock systems.
Area Of Science
- Agricultural Science
- Environmental Science
- Climate Change Adaptation
Background
- Ethiopia's agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to climate variability and rainfall patterns.
- Household livelihood vulnerability differs significantly across various agroecological zones (AEZs).
Purpose Of The Study
- To investigate farmers' susceptibility to climate variability and change in northwestern Ethiopia.
- To analyze variations in livelihood vulnerability across different agroecological zones.
Main Methods
- A survey of 405 households across lowland, midland, and highland AEZs.
- Qualitative data from focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
- Assessment of household vulnerability using social, economic, and environmental indicators, including the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and LVI-IPCC.
Main Results
- Significant variations in livelihood vulnerability indices and profiles were observed across AEZs.
- The lowland AEZ exhibited higher exposure and weaker adaptive capacity, resulting in greater vulnerability.
- The midland AEZ demonstrated low exposure, high adaptive capacity, and low vulnerability, with LVI-IPCC values of 0.128 (midland), 0.168 (highland), and 0.180 (lowland).
Conclusions
- Agroecological and socioeconomic factors drive variations in household vulnerability.
- Tailored adaptation strategies are crucial for reducing vulnerability in mixed crop-livestock farming systems.
- Adaptation measures must be locally relevant and grounded in community realities for effective implementation.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Related Concept Videos
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
Weather and Climate
Weather and climate are related, though they differ in terms of time scale and predictability. Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere at a specific time and place, whereas climate...
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
Under normal conditions, water taken up by the plant evaporates from leaves and other parts in a process called transpiration. In times of drought stress, water that evaporates by transpiration far exceeds the water absorbed from the soil, causing plants to wilt. The general plant response to drought stress is the synthesis of hormone...
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
Past Periods of Warming and Cooling
In...
Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
In land plants, the uppermost cell layer of a plant leaf, called the epidermis, is coated with a waxy substance called the cuticle. This hydrophobic layer is composed of the polymer cutin and...
Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.
Perforation and dissection often occur during the initial stages of...
An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced change in an ecosystem. The impact of an ecological disturbance, which can depend on its intensity, frequency, and spatial distribution, plays a significant role in shaping the species diversity within the ecosystem.
Ecological disturbances can be caused by an event as small as the trampling of underbrush to an incident as wide-ranging as a...