title: Combining analytical frameworks to assess livelihood vulnerability to climate change and analyse adaptation options.
abstract: Experts working on behalf of international development organisations need better tools to assist land managers in developing countries maintain their livelihoods, as climate change puts pressure on the ecosystem services that they depend upon. However, current understanding of livelihood vulnerability to climate change is based on a fractured and disparate set of theories and methods. This review therefore combines theoretical insights from sustainable livelihoods analysis with other analytical frameworks (including the ecosystem services framework, diffusion theory, social learning, adaptive management and transitions management) to assess the vulnerability of rural livelihoods to climate change. This integrated analytical framework helps diagnose vulnerability to climate change, whilst identifying and comparing adaptation options that could reduce vulnerability, following four broad steps: i) determine likely level of exposure to climate change, and how climate change might interact with existing stresses and other future drivers of change; ii) determine the sensitivity of stocks of capital assets and flows of ecosystem services to climate change; iii) identify factors influencing decisions to develop and/or adopt different adaptation strategies, based on innovation or the use/substitution of existing assets; and iv) identify and evaluate potential trade-offs between adaptation options. The paper concludes by identifying interdisciplinary research needs for assessing the vulnerability of livelihoods to climate change.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environment & Society Research, Birmingham School of the Built Environment, Birmingham City University, City Centre Campus, Millennium Point, Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7XG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: University of Miami, RSMAS/MPO, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Podesta
authors.affiliation: School of the Environment, University of Dundee, Perth Road, Dundee DD1 4HN, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fazey
authors.affiliation: Osservatorio MEDES (Observatory for Economic Problems Associated with Desertification in Mediterranean Areas), Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano 10, Potenza 85100, Italy.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Geeson
authors.affiliation: Alterra, Wageningen University & Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hessel
authors.affiliation: Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hubacek
authors.affiliation: University of Miami, RSMAS/MPO, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Letson
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark ; Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nainggolan
authors.affiliation: Sociology Department, University of Maryland, 2112 Art-Sociology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prell
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 221 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Rickenbach
authors.affiliation: Alterra, Wageningen University & Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ritsema
authors.affiliation: Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Hallerstrasse 10, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schwilch
authors.affiliation: Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth & Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Stringer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geography & Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Llandinam Building, Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Thomas
keywords: Adaptive management; Diffusion; Ecosystem services; Innovation; Resilience; Social learning; Stakeholder participation; Sustainable livelihoods analysis; Transitions management
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