Multidimensional poverty and vulnerability assessment in the face of climate change adaptation in developing economies: focus on ecosystem-based livelihoods in Zambia

The impacts of climate change are being felt in weaker economies, especially among the rural poor dependent on rainfed agriculture and ecosystem-based livelihoods. Using mixed approaches to strengthen the methodological toolkit, the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and Livelihood Vulnerability Indicators (LVIs) in the context of the Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change (IPCC) were drawn to quantitatively assess vulnerability to climate change in two agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Zambia. Livelihood capital was profiled and computed to understand how adaptive capacity was shaped within and between AEZs by household size, level of education, gender, age, and migration status. Many variations were observed. While both zones recorded positive LVI-IPCC values suggesting high vulnerability, AEZ IIa was relatively less vulnerable. Gender, age, and household size appeared to play major roles in shaping household capital. Female and child-headed households were most vulnerable, just like locals and smaller households were. It is concluded that there was low adaptive capacity to climate change in the zones examined. As it stands, although future vulnerability is uncertain, energy needs are likely to continue driving deforestation and environmental degradation, affecting future climate in turn. Deforestation rates continue to exponentially increase with nationwide energy shortages resulting from droughts linked to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events.   Similarly, poor infrastructure, late farming input delivery, market failure, and access challenges are highly likely to continue to weaken the climate change adaptation potential of ecosystem-based livelihoods.