In the Uplands of Southeast Asia, poor and near-poor farm households endure considerable livelihood vulnerability. Access to formal insurance services is scarce. Rural farm households in mountainous Northern Vietnam h...In the Uplands of Southeast Asia, poor and near-poor farm households endure considerable livelihood vulnerability. Access to formal insurance services is scarce. Rural farm households in mountainous Northern Vietnam have developed alternative risk management strategies. This article investigates the theoretical links between poverty, vulnerability and risk. The concept of vulnerability to poverty lays the analytical framework. Based on empirical evidence from more than 200 ethnic minority households, major risks and risk management strategies are presented and analyzed. Results suggest that households suffer from limited endowment with and access to capital assets and service institutions. Human and economic risks （e.g. illness of family members and loss of livestock） were identified as the main components affecting rural livelihoods. Constrained access to adequate risk management strategies increase household＇s vulnerability, drowning them more and more in poverty. Major policy implications are that anti-poverty programs should focus on a broader target group, the currently poor as well as the vulnerable households.展开更多
文摘In the Uplands of Southeast Asia, poor and near-poor farm households endure considerable livelihood vulnerability. Access to formal insurance services is scarce. Rural farm households in mountainous Northern Vietnam have developed alternative risk management strategies. This article investigates the theoretical links between poverty, vulnerability and risk. The concept of vulnerability to poverty lays the analytical framework. Based on empirical evidence from more than 200 ethnic minority households, major risks and risk management strategies are presented and analyzed. Results suggest that households suffer from limited endowment with and access to capital assets and service institutions. Human and economic risks （e.g. illness of family members and loss of livestock） were identified as the main components affecting rural livelihoods. Constrained access to adequate risk management strategies increase household＇s vulnerability, drowning them more and more in poverty. Major policy implications are that anti-poverty programs should focus on a broader target group, the currently poor as well as the vulnerable households.
