Measuring climate change vulnerability: a comparison of two indexes

Abstract

Climate change is predicted and currently observed to especially affect the rural poor,and some sort of support for adaptation is relevant. This paper tests two vulnerabilityassessment indexes in Lete and Kunjo VDCs in Mustang District: the LivelihoodVulnerability Index (LVI) and the Livelihood Effect Index (LEI). The indexes are completedbased on primary data from 60 randomly selected respondents and the vulnerabilities atVDC and household levels are assessed. The figures resulting from the vulnerabilityassessments correspond with contextual information from the area elicited during keyinformant interviews and the methods are concluded useful in a Nepalese context. Bothindexes validly reflect the relative differences between the two VDCs in terms of vulnerabilityto climate change impacts and factors contributing to it and both could therefore usefullyform the basis for a nationally applicable index to identify and prioritise mitigation needs.However, a number of challenges to using indexes and basing them on respondents’perceptions are recognised.Key words: Climate change; livelihoods; Mustang; vulnerabilityDOI: 10.3126/banko.v20i1.3503Banko Janakari, Vol. 20, No. 1 pp.9-16