Livelihood vulnerability to climate change of fishermen in the coastal area of Bengkulu Province, Indonesia

The current climate shocks and stresses have devastating impacts on the livelihood vulnerability of the poor fishermen in Bengkulu Province. Increasing frequency of rainfall, temperature, sea level rise, and climate extremes will exacerbate these impacts. This study aims to see how perceived climate change affects the vulnerability of fishermen's livelihoods. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) method is used to assess livelihood vulnerability to climate change. The result of LVI analysis shows that Bengkulu City has the highest level of livelihood vulnerability (LVI = 0.472) compared to that of North Bengkulu Regency and South Bengkulu Regency (with LVI = 0.430 and 0.437 respectively). The marine capture fishermen in Bengkulu City are very vulnerable to climate change because they have a high dependence on capture fisheries sector. Internal factor constraints have a positive effect on the level of vulnerability of fishermen's livelihoods and fish production constraints negatively affect the vulnerability of fishermen's livelihoods to climate change. The decline in fish production due to climate change will certainly reduce the level of income of fishermen, thereby increasing their livelihood vulnerability. © 2020, BIOFLUX SRL. All rights reserved.