Abstract
Climate change is increasingly affecting rural areas worldwide. The Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) is at particular risk due to heat stress, changing rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and more frequent and extreme climatic events. It is imperative that local-level adaptation plans are developed in a manner that builds resilience to these growing threats. Strategies for developing adaptation plans tend to comprise predominantly science-led or predominantly community-led processes. This study examines an approach that balances inputs from both processes in characterizing community vulnerability as a component of the adaptation planning workflow. Evaluation sites are located within four distinct sub-regions of the LMB: the Vietnam Mekong Delta, the Annamite Mountains of Lao PDR, the Cambodia central lowlands, and the mid-elevation forests of northern Thailand. Our results indicate that by merging science-based data with community-level perspective, knowledge gaps from both sides are filled and a more comprehensive understanding of vulnerability is factored into adaptation planning.
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Notes
The Lower Mekong Basin also includes a small portion of Myanmar, although that was not the focus of the fieldwork and research discussed in this paper.
Seventy-nine percent of respondents who had observed general changes in climate in the recent years indicated this had occurred in the past 5 years, and 18% indicated change had occurred in the past 10 years.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the USAID Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change team from DAI for their competent management of the project, and partners the Asian Management Development Institute, International Union for Conservation of Nature, and World Food Programme for their work on the ground with the pilot communities. Further thanks go to Shannon Dugan of DAI, Dr. Alex Smajgl of Mekong Region Futures Institute, and Henry Tucker of Lao Consulting Group for their insightful reviews of and suggestions for this article. We also thank Simon Tilleard from the International Centre for Environmental Management for providing clarifications on climate modeling methods. Finally, we thank the community members of Thuan Hoa Commune, Ban Kouane and Ban Xong, Chey Commune, and Huai Kang Pla Village for their participation, openness, and valuable input throughout the pilot project.
This publication has been made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the US Government.
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This article is part of a Special Issue on “Climatic Change and Development in the Mekong River Basin” edited by Jaap Evers and Assela Pathirana.
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Gustafson, S., Joehl Cadena, A., Ngo, C.C. et al. Merging science into community adaptation planning processes: a cross-site comparison of four distinct areas of the Lower Mekong Basin. Climatic Change 149, 91–106 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1887-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1887-7