A typology of household livelihood changes in rural coastal areas of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta-Capturing the heterogeneity and complexity of the social-ecological context

Over the last decades, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta (VMD) has experienced drastic political, socio-economic, and ecological changes. On a conceptual level, numerous studies started to emphasize that livelihood shifts are driven by not only climate but also socio-economic and institutional changes. Nevertheless, on an analytical and operational level, research taking up both aspects of social and ecological changes in analysing the dynamics of livelihood is still lacking. This paper therefore is to present a typology of livelihood transitions to capture complex sets and interactions of environmental and non-environmental drives for livelihood changes. The paper thus aims at providing a valid representation of the shifts on the ground that can also be used in policy-making and future research. Using data from a household survey conducted in three provinces (n = 524), we propose a typology of six livelihood-change trends that reflects the level of intensity of agrarian adjustments, particularly system-shift versus diversification, as well as the role of non-agricultural income changes. The typology allows further analysis of characteristics of the six household groups respectively, thereby facilitating the identification of enabling factors and barriers to sustainable livelihood improvements. This classification method can also be transferred to develop similar household livelihood-change typologies in other contexts.

Automated summary

This paper aims to present a typology of livelihood transitions in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta, capturing the complex interactions of environmental and non-environmental drivers for livelihood changes. By analyzing characteristics of different household groups, the typology helps identify enabling factors and barriers to sustainable livelihood improvements. This classification method can be applied to develop similar household livelihood-change typologies in other contexts.