Evaluation of the livelihood vulnerability of pastoral households in Northern China to natural disasters and climate change
Wenqiang Ding A C , Weibo Ren A C D , Ping Li A C , Xiangyang Hou A D , Xiaolong Sun B , Xiliang Li A , Jihong Xie A and Yong Ding A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot 010010, China.
B Inner Mongolia Ecology and Agro-Meteorology Centre, 010051, China.
C The authors contributed equally to the paper.
D Corresponding authors. Emails: houxy16@126.com; rppcaucau@163.com; dingyong228@126.com
The Rangeland Journal 36(6) 535-543 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ13051
Submitted: 17 May 2013 Accepted: 22 September 2014 Published: 18 November 2014
Journal Compilation © Australian Rangeland Society 2014
Abstract
This study was carried out to evaluate the vulnerability of the herders in the grassland areas of Northern China. The results showed that, as a consequence of less capital accumulation, the herders in this area were vulnerable as a whole, and that gender, grassland area, livestock numbers and net incomes have significant effects on the vulnerability of grazer households. The families with female householders tended to be more vulnerable and they were characterised as owning less grassland, smaller houses, fewer or no vehicles, fewer young livestock and numbers of livestock slaughtered annually, whereas the families with low vulnerability had a higher net income. Geographically, household vulnerability showed a decreasing trend from west to east in Northern China at the county or region scale, which was positively correlated with grassland productivity. Social resources played a less important role than natural resources in decreasing the herders’ vulnerability. Educational level of the household members and the household labour capacity played important roles in reducing vulnerability. Increasing the enrolment rate and the education background in grassland regions may decrease the vulnerability of the herders. It is argued that the use of vulnerability indices can be helpful to increase the herders’ adaptation to climate change and to improve the sustainability of rural pastoral regions.
Additional keywords: adaptability, global change, poverty, resilience to crisis, sustainable development.
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