Analysis of gender dimensions of climate variability and adaptation process in the fishermen households of Thrissur district

Abstract

The nature of work and the geographical location cause the fisher community to be economically marginalized and highly vulnerable to climate variability and extreme weather events with women enduring most of this wrath. Though research on the linkages between a changing climate and vulnerability has been increasing, only few studies inspect the gender dimensions of vulnerability. In this regard the present study attempts to evaluate the factors contributing to the economic vulnerability of the fisher households due to the extreme weather events with respect to the gender of the household head and the adaptation strategies preferred by the households. The study assessed the livelihood vulnerability of 120 male headed and 30 female headed fisher households of two coastal taluks of Thrissur, Kerala using the LVI (Livelihood Vulnerability Index) methodology. The LVI estimates the overall vulnerability score of both categories of households based on 7 major components and their subcomponents. The economic vulnerability is quantified based on the major component -economic status. The factors affecting the economic vulnerability of the households are selected based on LVI subcomponents. The statistical significance of the selected factors are estimated based on the logistic regression. The lone income from fisheries was revealed to be the factor affecting the economic vulnerability of both the households. Kendall’s concordance test is performed to determine the extent of agreement for the adaptation options among the households. The test was found to have a concordance value of 0.836 with the disaster preparedness measures to be the most preferred option among the households.