Measuring household vulnerability to climate change

Abstract

This chapter summarizes research on the potential impacts of climate change on households, with a particular focus on contributions from different methodological approaches to understanding impacts for households in developing countries. Agriculture has been a central focus of this literature, both because of the sensitivity of the agricultural sector to a changing climate and also because of the importance of agriculture for the livelihoods of the poor. The literature review shows that developing countries are largely expected to be disproportionally hurt by projected changes in temperature, precipitation, and extreme events. On the other hand, the actual household level response to these changes is not well understood, and there are still gaps in the methodological approaches to understanding these issues. The recent literature reveals promising approaches that may complement and improve existing methods as more data becomes available.