Ecosystem-Based Adaptation and Gender Perspectives from a Participatory Vulnerability Assessment in Mountainous Rural Vietnam

Abstract

Smallholder farmers in rural Vietnam are dependent on ecosystems for their daily subsistence and income. Female and male farmers are differently affected by climate change, and they have different responses to and ability to cope with climate change. Men and women in Son Tho commune, a mountainous rural site in Ha Tinh province, Vietnam, were surveyed to determine what ecosystems and services they depend on, what losses and damage from climate change they are facing, and identify any appropriate ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) measures that could be implemented to build resilience. Data were collected at meetings with commune staff and male and female farmers through open-ended and structured questionnaires and focus-group discussions. Both groups acknowledged that livelihoods of people in the study area are ecosystem-based. Perceived changes in the local climate included an increase in heat waves; more intense droughts due to delays in the onset of rain and reduction in total annual rainfall; cold spells; typhoons; and floods. The influences of these phenomena on livelihoods were interpreted differently by female and male farmers. As a result, EbA interventions are defined and selected differently by gender.