Gender differences in climate change perception and adaptation strategies: A case study on three provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta
The info-note (PDF) from CGIAR-CCAFS presents insights on current climate change perceptions and adaptation strategies and gaps between male and females farmers in three selected provinces across the Mekong River Delta (MRD) in Vietnam. Perceptions of climate change in Vietnam do not appear to be individual but rather dis-aggregated at the household level or possibly at the landscape level. The findings of the study affirm that there is no gender imbalance in terms of awareness and understanding of climate change issues between male and female rice farmers in the MRD. However, this study finds differences in the coping and adaptation strategies between male and female. Also, since the perceived impacts of stress by male and female respondents are quite similar, this may indicate that stress is managed at the household level rather than at the individual level. The authors recommend that further gender research in Vietnam should focus on adaptation and coping strategies during climate change stress as it appears that gender differences are most present in this area. In addition, they recommend to include spatial analysis in future climate change studies, since challenges related to climate change faced by individual households are likely to be the same challenges as their neighbors.