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An Assessment of Community Vulnerability to Environmental Changes in Caliraya Watershed, Laguna, Philippines
Dissertation Abstract:
The study assessed the vulnerability of the local community toward the adverse impact of significant environmental changes in Caliraya watershed, and identified vulnerability determinants and adaptive coping mechanism/strategies toward these impacts.
A total of 361 respondents from five direct impact study sites were randomly selected and analyzed to determine the cause-and-effect relationship among variables. The conceptual framework of the study provided a checklist of important issues and other factors that link to each other; drew attention to core influences and processes; and determined the critical determinants and interactions between the various factors that affect the individuals, households, and communities.
Households and communities have low awareness and consciousness of the natural resources (i.e., air, water, land, and biodiversity) of the watershed. High level of social vulnerability was due to lack of knowledge on tenure system, basic needs of the family, and susceptibility to hazards that greatly affect their well being, which the respondents felt that was very inadequate/not sufficient to support their life condition. Respondents’ low and negative attitudes toward impacts of environmental changes in the watershed had negative net effect on social, economic, environmental, and physical attributes. The extent of biophysical vulnerability revealed high negative impacts on people and community, implying the need for measures to be institutionalized to mitigate the impacts of environmental changes.
The various coping mechanisms identified were community and kinship ties; conservation, protection and rehabilitation measures; adaptation strategies for livelihood program; and public hearing and consultation on the problems, issues, and concerns in the watershed.
The findings and empirical data generated a new construct in the theories and concepts of vulnerability in the form of a model of community vulnerability index The community vulnerability index is a function of social, economic, and biophysical attributes toward impacts of significant environmental changes in the watershed.
The significant sociodemographic determinants of community vulnerability were education, number of children in school, residence in the area, and household size; and for social-psychological behaviors were awareness, perception, attitudes, and shared perception of impacts of environmental changes.