Workshop on Climate Change Resilient Livelihood Study by CARE International

Reported by Nguyen Anh Dung (AD)

Can Tho, 5th of August 2013

CARE International in Vietnam (funded by AusAID), is currently implementing the Integrated Community-Based Adaptation in the Mekong (ICAM) project. The project will be implemented for 2.5 years in 5 communes in An Giang and Soc Trang provinces with the main objective to improve the resilience to climate change impacts of the most vulnerable communities , specifically landless and land-poor, ethnic minorities and women. A large component of the project focuses on support to climate resilient agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods. The project supported a study to search for appropriate livelihood interventions. The workshop was to present initial findings of the study and to provide chances for feedbacks from local authorities and colleagues from other organisations such as Can Tho University, Red-cross, WWF, IUCN, GIZ, Oxfam, etc. Following are key points of their study:

Appropriate livelihood options under context of climate change adaptation consist of two criteria:

• Sustainable Livelihood Criteria
• Climate change Resilience Criteria

To fulfil each criterion, one livelihood option should be valued against different categories and aspects as in the following table:

Criteria	Categories	Aspects
Sustainable Livelihood	Economy	Market demand
		Market access
		Financial investment level
		Diversification (risk reduction)
		Skills and technology
	Institutional context	Law/regulation
		Fiscal barriers
	Cultural and social context	Community consensus
		Poor & poorest suitability
		Cross-cutting issues: gender and disability
Climate resilience	Impact on biodiversity/ ecosystem	Negative/positive impacts on resources?
	Climate change	Appropriate for existing/future climate
		Adaptability
		CO2 emission

The findings suggested several options after considering all above aspects. During the workshop, six livelihood options (mushroom growing, eel farming, floating garden, seaweed growing, sedge grass weaving, vertical garden) were used to demonstrate to participants by asking them going through two criteria and answering questions for all aspects.

From the discussion, it seems that seaweed cannot be grown in Soc Trang because of sea water quality, eel farming and mushroom growing can be promising if market demand is taken care and environmental issues are looked at. Floating and vertical gardens can provide small-scale livelihood but might not provide enough income for poor and landless people. The final report which will incorporate comments and ideas from stakeholders will be sent out to all participants soon.