Assessing inherent vulnerability of farming communities across different biogeographical zones in Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract Vulnerability assessment is an important step in developing adaptation strategies. For biogeographically vital and extremely heterogeneous regions like Himalaya, assessing vulnerability as an inherent characteristic becomes crucial. The present study assesses the inherent vulnerability (IV) for farming communities of Himachal Pradesh as a function of sensitivity and adaptive capacity using social and ecological indicators, group-decision methods, and Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. Data for 13,877 villages in three different biogeographical zones (Lower Himalaya (LH), Middle Himalaya (MH), Trans-Himalaya Tibetan Plateau (THTP)) was collected from secondary sources. Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) was applied to weigh the social and ecological indicators. Weighted indicators were finally aggregated to generate the final inherent vulnerability index (IVI). The IVI values for different biogeographical zones (LH 0.35 ± 0.13, MH 0.42 ± 0.14 and THTP 0.30 ± 0.17) reveal that geographical location of zones played a decisive role in distribution of IV. MH showed the highest vulnerability due to fragile inherent biophysical and socio-economic conditions. The findings of this study will aid in better resource management for farming communities to enhance the agriculture capabilities of vulnerable zones. The findings of this study also have inference for developing adaptation strategies for present stressors in the region.