Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

To estimate the impact of weather on rural income changes over time, this study combines data from the panel subsample of the latest Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys 2010, 2012, and 2014 and gridded weather data from the Climate Research Unit. The analyses show: (i) crop cultivation, livestock management, forestry and fishing activities, and agricultural wages remain important income sources in rural Vietnam-especially for poorer households; (ii) rural communes are exposed to substantial inter- and intra-annual weather variation, as measured by annual, seasonal, abnormal, and extreme weather conditions and weather events; and (iii) these types of weather variation are indeed related to income variation. In particular, warmer temperatures and heat extremes can have negative income effects in all climate contexts and for all socioeconomic groups and most income activities. Only staple crops, forestry, and fishing seem to be less sensitive to hotter conditions. The effects of rainfall are more difficult to generalize. Some findings indicate that more rainfall is beneficial in drier places but harmful in wetter places. Interestingly, the incomes of poorer households seem to be negatively affected by wetter conditions, while those of wealthier households are more impacted by drier conditions. An increase in rainfall levels and flood conditions between 2012 and 2014, which were relatively wet years, is related to reduced income growth between these two years. Altogether these findings suggests that greater attention has to be paid to making rural livelihoods more resilient to weather variation which, is very likely to increase because of climate change.

Climate Change --- Consumption --- Households --- Incomes --- Livelihoods --- Poverty --- Shocks --- Vulnerability

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Climate change and climate policies will affect poverty reduction efforts through direct and immediate impacts on the poor and by affecting factors that condition poverty reduction, such as economic growth. This paper explores this relation between climate change and policies and poverty outcomes by examining three questions: the (static) impact on poor people's livelihood and well-being; the impact on the risk for non-poor individuals to fall into poverty; and the impact on the ability of poor people to escape poverty. The paper proposes four channels that determine household consumption and through which households may escape or fall into poverty (prices, assets, productivity, and opportunities). It then discusses whether and how these channels are affected by climate change and climate policies, focusing on the exposure, vulnerability, and ability to adapt of the poor (and those vulnerable to poverty). It reviews the existing literature and offers three major conclusions. First, climate change is likely to represent a major obstacle to a sustained eradication of poverty. Second, climate policies are compatible with poverty reduction provided that (i) poverty concerns are carefully taken into account in their design and (ii) they are accompanied by the appropriate set of social policies. Third, climate change does not modify how poverty policies should be designed, but it creates greater needs and more urgency. The scale issue is explained by the fact that climate will cause more frequent and more severe shocks; the urgency, by the need to exploit the window of opportunity given to us before climate impacts are likely to substantially increase.

Climate Change --- Climate Change Economics --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Climate Policies --- Development --- Environment --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty --- Poverty Reduction --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Safety Nets & Transfers --- Social Protection --- Social Protections and Labor --- Welfare