Responses to Weather and Climate

How much do poor rural households rely on environmental extraction from natural ecosystems? And how does climate variability impact their livelihoods? This paper sheds light on these two questions with household income data from the Poverty and Environment Network pantropical data set, combined with climate data for the past three decades. The study finds that extraction of wild resources (from natural forests, bushlands, fallows, etc.) provides on average as much income (about 27 percent) as crops across the smallholder sample. The cross-section data on past reactions to household self-perceived economic shocks and observed production reactions to climate anomalies can, respectively, provide hints about livelihood vulnerability to current climate variability, which is likely to worsen with climate change. Forest extraction did not figure among the most favored response strategies to households’ self-perceived economic shocks, but households undertake subtle substitutions in sector production in response to weather anomalies that accentuate suboptimal climatic conditions for cropping. By relying more on forest extraction and wages, households compensate quite successfully for declining crop incomes. This paints a cautiously optimistic picture about fairly flexible rural livelihood reactions to current climate variability, and featuring forests as potentially important in household coping strategies.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Noack, Frederik, Wunder, Sven, Angelsen, Arild, Börner, Jan
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2015-11
Subjects:	CALCIUM, POPULATION DENSITIES, FOREST DEGRADATION, FISH, DURABLE GOODS, TEMPERATURE, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, VARIABLE COSTS, AMAZON FOREST, FOREST MANAGEMENT, REDUCING EMISSIONS, CARBON, PLANT GROWTH, FOREST CONSERVATION, CLIMATE EFFECTS, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION, EXPECTATIONS, STORMS, PAINTS, HYDROLOGY, WIND, TIMBER, CLIMATES, WOOD PRODUCTS, EMISSIONS, ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, POLITICAL ECONOMY, FOREST PLANTATIONS, FOREST AREAS, DIMINISHING RETURNS, ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES, EQUILIBRIUM, NUTRIENTS, MODELS, INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY RESEARCH, HUMIDITY, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT, CARBON CYCLE, PH, HURRICANES, RESOURCE USE, TERRESTRIAL CARBON CYCLE, ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, ANNUAL PRECIPITATION, EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS, BIOMASS, CO2, FOREST PRODUCTS, CLIMATIC CONDITIONS, LABOR COSTS, TROPICS, FOREST-COVER, FOREST EXTRACTION, FOREST PRODUCTIVITY, FLOODS, CAPACITY, OPTIONS, GLOBAL WARMING, LABOR PRODUCTIVITY, EXTERNALITIES, DRY FOREST, RAINFALL, POLLUTION, FORESTRY, TROPICAL FORESTS, CARBON SINK, FOREST RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS, NATURAL RESOURCES, PRECIPITATION, CLIMATE SENSITIVITY, CERTAIN EXTENT, FISHING, LAND USE, PRECIPITATION ANOMALIES, CAPITAL CONSTRAINTS, ENTITLEMENTS, RESOURCES, EQUITY, ECOSYSTEM, LEAD, CLIMATE RESEARCH UNIT, WAGES, CLIMATE CHANGE, IPCC, DROUGHT, FOREST COVER, VALUES, ELECTRICITY, ELASTICITIES, CREDIT, TEMPERATURE ANOMALIES, DEFORESTATION, CLIMATE, FORESTS, SUSTAINABLE USE, CANOPY COVER, TROPICAL DEFORESTATION, ENVIRONMENTS, SINK, FOREST, FOREST USE, OPPORTUNITY COSTS, AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, ENVIRONMENT, FERTILIZATION, SUSTAINABLE FOREST, CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, CARBON LOSSES, WEATHER PATTERNS, STREAMS, ECONOMICS, TRADE, LAKES, LAND, ECONOMIES OF SCALE, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, EMISSIONS FROM DEFORESTATION, CARBON SINKS, FOREST EDGE, TERRESTRIAL CARBON, WEATHER CONDITIONS, CALCIUM CARBONATE, TERRESTRIAL CARBON SINK, RAIN, CRU, GLOBAL PRECIPITATION, NATURAL FORESTS, ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, PROFITS, PRODUCTION PATTERNS, ENVIRONMENTAL, CLIMATOLOGY, CLIMATIC VARIABILITY, PRICES, FOREST EDGES, NEGATIVE IMPACTS, FOREST PRODUCTION, ECONOMIES, LAND ECONOMICS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/11/25250694/responses-weather-climate-cross-section-analysis-rural-incomes https://hdl.handle.net/10986/23439
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