1. .
Arsi University
School of Humanities and Law
Department of Geography and Environmental
Studies.
Course Title: Sustainable Livelihoods and Food
Security
Presentation title:Vulnerability to Liveli
hoods/Food insecurity.
Course Code : GeDM 502
Year: I, Semester:I
Submitted by: Abera Bulto
IDNo Gs/EX0311/15

2. 4. Vulnerability to Livelihoods/Food Insecurity
4.1The Concept of Vulnerability and Resilience
4.1.1Vulnerability
 Vulnerability, based on unsafe location refers to
the “degree to which an area, people, physical
structures or economic assets are exposed to loss,
injury or damage caused by the impact of a
hazard.”
This definition asserts Vulnerability as equivalent
to location and can be represented in the
following mathematical formula

3. Con…
Vulnerability = the location of element at risk
vis a vis the hazard (considering other factors
like slopes).
 Degree of Vulnerability= Location of element
at risks Distance and Time
The location of the element at risk (the rich
and poor houses) determines the degree of
exposures to hazard or the degree of
vulnerability.

4. Con….
This shows that whether rich or poor, all persons
living in the same location have equal degrees of
vulnerability to the impact of the hazard.
 Under this assumption, the socio
economic status has no bearing on the
degree of vulnerability.
 Thus, vulnerability refers mainly to the location
of element at risk and this becomes the main
determinant in the degree of exposure to the
hazard’s impact.

5. Con…
In measuring disaster risk based on the above
assumption, the mathematical representation
is:
Disaster Risk = Hazard x Vulnerability
C a p a c i t y
Here, capacity is recognized as a separate
variable and subsumed(include) neither by
hazard nor vulnerability

6. Con…
Capacities can be categorized under the
following: prevention, mitigation,
preparedness and survivability.
The major strength of this view is that it allows
Vulnerability to be determined by the most
constant element in assessing disaster risk –
the location of the element at risk in relation to
the hazard.

7. 4.1.2 Resilience
Resilience on the other hand refers to the
capacity of land to absorb change.
 All these suggest a different way of looking at
sustainability of agiven household in terms of
food and livelihood security

8. Con….
Resilience can be explained as follows.
 The capacity of a system, community or society
potentially exposed to hazards to adapt by
resisting or changing order to reach and maintain
all acceptable level of functioning and structure.
 This is determined the degree to which the social
system is capable of organizing itself to increase
its capacity for learning from past disasters for
better future protection and to improve risk
reduction measures.

9. Con….
The ability of a person or a group to anticipate,
cope with, resist, and recover from the impact
of a hazard/disaster.
 Resilience refers to a person’s or a
community’s ability to bounce back or recover
after adversity or hard times, and to be capable
of building positively on these adversities.

10. Con…..
Resiliency often is related to 3 different
characteristics:
 The magnitude of the shock that HH or community
can absorb and remain viable
 The degree to which the HH or community is capable
of self-organization after the exposure to the hazard
to maintain an acceptable level of functioning and
structure.
 The degree to which a HH or community can learn
from these difficult circumstances and adapt.

11. Con…..
 In a resilient HH or community, change has
the potential to create new opportunities
 Vulnerable HH and communities have a
propensity to suffer from exposure to external
shocks and stresses because they are sensitive
to such exposures

12. Con….
 Adaptive capacity is an aspect of resilience-it
reflects learning, flexibility and the development
of generalizable responses to a broad range of
challenges.
 Community resilience refers to “individual and
collective capacity to respond to adversity and
change”
 When a community is resilient, it can “respond
to crises in ways that strengthen community
bonds, resources, and the community’s capacity to
cope.

13. Con….
4.2 Factors Exerting Influence on Livelihoods
Major factors exerting influence include:
disaster hazards, poverty and famine,
environmental degradation, rapid &unplanned
urbanization, climate change, legal/political
issues,lack of copping capacity, and many
others.

14. 4.2.1 Hazards
Based on vulnerability assessment, hazards exert influence on
livelihoods. See table below.
Level of vulnerability Reasons for level of
vulnerability
Hazard
/Trend
profile
Elements at risk High medium Low
• a Human
elements
 Gender
 Age
Poverty,
unsafe conditions,
earthquake,unregulated
land use planning,poor
design and construction
of building etc
b. Non-human
elements
o Productive
assets(sectors)

15. Critical facilities
• Hospitals
• fire stations
• police stations
• communication
• Transportation,shelters,
• Schools etc.

16. Hazards Disasters hit poor people the hardest.
53% of affected people by disasters live in
developing Countries.
Over 95% of the people killed by disasters
lived in middle and low-income countries.
Extensive research shows the poor are more
likely to occupy dangerous and less desirable
locations.
An estimated 1 billion people worldwide live
in slums and shanty towns.

17. Thank You!!