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Research article2016Peer reviewed

Assets, livelihoods, and the ‘profile approach’ for analysis of differentiated social vulnerability in the context of climate change

Fischer, Harry W.; Chhatre, Ashwini

Abstract

It is commonly acknowledged that the world's rural poor are vulnerable to loss and suffering from global climatic change, but there remains disagreement about how vulnerability should be defined and measured. In this paper, we advance the profile approach to vulnerability analysis, illustrated through a cluster analysis of livelihoods and assets of 521 households in India. Our approach focuses on household differentiation as a means to tease apart the causes and conditions that shape variegated exposures to risk. By exploring how vulnerability unfolds through specific constellations of factors on the ground, we believe that the profile approach will serve as a useful tool to build theory on the causes and conditions that shape household vulnerability in different contexts and to aid in the formulation of better-targeted interventions.

Keywords

Climate change; vulnerability assessments; asset profiles; livelihoods; cluster analysis

Published in

Environment and Planning A
2016, Volume: 48, number: 4, pages: 789-807

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Human Geography
    Climate Research

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X15623278

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/90368