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Sarangani, a province in Southern Philippines, is inhabited predominantly by tribal groups who depend on traditional rice farming for subsistence and livelihood. The purpose of this study is to identify current pressures to these upland communities and the interventions instituted to address them or mitigate their effects.

This is an exploratory and cross-sectional research using the emic approach. Rapid rural appraisal techniques (i.e. focus group discussion, key informant interviews, community immersion and field observation) were concurrently undertaken in 15 farming villages in the Sarangani uplands.

Results revealed that many upland families inhabited disaster-prone areas under conditions of hardship and abject poverty. Prevalent problems in these areas have largely arisen from the encroachment of modern agriculture, environmental degradation and changes in the socio-political and economic spheres. Consequently, food insecurity, cultural and genetic erosion and biodiversity losses have resulted in lowered Sarangani agro-ecosystem resilience. While policies and programs had been instituted to address these problems, positive results still remain to be realized.

Weak social networks in the Sarangani upland communities are attributable to their isolation and the disruptive influences of modernization. Agricultural modernization, in particular, caused the disintegration of community social structures and undermined overall well-being of the farmers. Sustainable strategies which harmonize modern and traditional systems of food production and environmental management are warranted to attain food security, environmental preservation and bio-cultural preservation.

This study contributes to the present body of knowledge about threats to vulnerable agro-ecosystems inhabited mainly by indigenous tribes. And while only 15 farming villages were covered by the study, these results can serve as a microcosm of what is happening in traditional agro-ecosystems worldwide. The study is also expected to provide inputs to policymakers, which they can use in crafting policies to address problems in the Sarangani uplands.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the study of sustainable rural livelihoods by developing a model to measure vulnerability of subsistence communities in dryland regions and identifying the major determinants that contribute to the livelihood vulnerability of these communities.

The author conducted a household survey across three subsistence communities in West Timor (n=627), from June to November 2013. Based on the guideline of the OECD (2008), the author developed a series of indicators and constructed a composite index to measure the vulnerability of dryland communities. The author adapted the livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) measure from Hahn et al. (2009) but refined it by using Shannon’s entropy method in deciding the weights of indicators and statistically tested the correlation between indicators using Kendall’s correlations.

Six major determinants were identified: education (EDU), children’s participation in agriculture (CPA), agricultural income (AI), subsistence food reserve (SUBSIST), social-cultural participation (SCP) and access to water, health clinic and market (ACC). LVI in all communities shows significant and strong relationships with SCP (0.594, p<0.01), AI (0.545, p<0.01) and CPA (0.434, p<0.01). This signifies that constraints to engage in social gatherings, market the harvest and obtain additional labour input are currently the major contributor to the vulnerability in these communities.

Shannon’s entropy is one of the methods for assisting in making decision (ranking) objectively. The results may need to be tested further using other methods.

Using objective weight provides additional information useful for identifying and prioritising areas (sub-components) which require attention and appropriate solutions to prevent households from further impoverishment and increased vulnerability.

Livelihood vulnerability of subsistence community in dry region is closely related to local survival skills and customs. Differences in the level of vulnerability across communities are due not only to geographical location and physical infrastructure, but also the leadership of local customary leaders and village government in looking for ways to improve the livelihoods of community members.

This paper is based on part of the results of a PhD thesis supported and approved by Griffith University. It has not been published before.

Floods in Vietnam have been a well-known phenomenon and occur in all regions of the country, especially in the Central Coast region, Mekong Delta, and Red River Delta (Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2007). People had to learn to live with floods, particularly those whose livelihood depends on the productive functions of annual flooding. Floods are embedded in Vietnamese culture, as ancestors of the Vietnamese nation regarded flooding as one of the four biggest dangers to people, along with fires, robbers, and invaders (Tran, Marincioni, Shaw, Sarti, & An, 2008).

The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of water governance in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia and the challenges now facing the region as a consequence of rapid growth and global warming. The paper seeks to examine the possible benefits that might accrue from applying a distributed, multilevel approach to water governance in this and other settings.

Interviews with over 100 fruit growers and ranchers and with ten water managers in the Okanagan Valley between 2005 and 2009 are conducted. Archival materials documenting the history of agriculture and irrigation in the valley are examined to provide historical depth to the study. An interdisciplinary review of theoretical literature on multilevel governance is conducted and also a comparative review of water governance systems in Canada and elsewhere.

The evidence supports the conclusion that distributed, multilevel governance systems offer an effective means of managing water in diverse settings, and that they are preferable, for a variety of reasons, to top‐down approaches that concentrate regulatory authority in state‐level institutions.

On a global scale, current water governance practices are proving inadequate to meet the challenges of increasing scarcity and competition. This paper describes a governance model that can be applied in many settings and which can help resolve conflict while facilitating sustainable management.

This paper integrates empirical and theoretical material from a variety of disciplines and diverse physical settings to construct a model of water governance designed to facilitate the combined goals of ecological sustainability, affordability, and equitable access to water resources.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current approach that the Thai Government has employed to manage “wicked problems,” using the case of opium in northern Thailand, and analyzing how the network governance approach can contribute to sustainable upland community development.

A case study was employed for this research. The data collection was based upon a qualitative research approach, namely in-depth interviews, participatory observation and document research, were all conducted.

The study found that the strategy of the Thai Government to manage the opium problem in the upland periphery has changed over time. The recent approach could be illustrated as a form of network governance albeit solely within the governmental realm, which was found to be different from the network governance stratagem currently defined in the dominant literature. This paper suggests that in order to achieve a sustainable solution for upland community development, the mode of network governance should shift toward self-governing networks. In other words, non-state stakeholders should be actively engaged in the network and empowered to manage their problems for sustainable upland community development.

This paper contributes to the current corpus of network governance literature by introducing an empirical case study from Thailand. In terms of policy implication, this paper provides policy suggestions for governments, especially in Asia, who are actively seeking to resolve “wicked problems” and achieving sustainable community development.

The purpose of this paper is to operationalise infomediaries in an agricultural context, specifically upland rice farming. Infomediaries are people who facilitate access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). This offers a socially grounded solution to the nagging issue of the digital divide.

This research is predominantly qualitative. The methods used were time transects, mobility mapping, photovoice, individual and key informant interviews. In total, 38 farmers' children from the upland communities in the provinces of Albay and Aurora participated in this research. Theoretically, this paper aims to contribute to literature on ICT 2.0.

The participants showed strong desire to help their parents on the rice farm, directly or indirectly. They had varying levels of proficiency in using ICTs. Average weekly expenditure on purchasing prepaid mobile phone credits was US$1.50. Evidence of mobile addiction (sending more than 200 text messages daily) was noted. Their youth's intimate relationship with ICTs increases hope that they can serve as infomediaries for their farmer-parents.

This research is anchored on giving context-specific solutions to ICT issues. Transferability is emphasised over generalisability.

Based on the mobility maps of the participants, their respective schools can serve as the nuclei for agricultural extension. The schools serve as their convergence point. This offers an alternative to the difficulty of individually visiting the farmers in the area, which is confounded by the scarcity of agricultural technologists tasked to do the job.

The paper offers an alternative extension mode, drawn from the intimate relationship between young people and ICTs. This is a welcome initiative, particularly because such initiatives to engage youth in agriculture, directly or indirectly, remain scarce. The ideas forwarded in this paper will benefit agricultural agencies in the Philippines and other developing countries.

As a consequence of the huge loss and damage caused by natural disasters all over the world, an impressive amount of attention is currently being given to a holistic approach in disaster risk management (McEntire, Fuller, Johnston, & Weber, 2002). The world experiences more and more natural disaster impacts in spite of numerous efforts, advancing sciences, and more powerful technologies. Indeed, current disasters are more complex, and climate change poses a greater potential for adverse impacts (Aalst & Burton 2002). Hence, there is a need to reassess the existing disaster risk reduction approaches due to problems in the existing risk management approaches, and new risks brought by climate change and by environment degradation.

This article sets out to address the response of traditional societies in facing natural hazards through the lens of the concept of resilience.

This paper considers that resilient societies are those able to overcome the damage caused by the occurrence of natural hazards, either through maintaining their pre‐disaster social fabric, or through accepting marginal or larger change in order to survive. The discussion is based on a review of the corpus of case studies available in the literature.

The present article suggests that the capacity of resilience of traditional societies and the concurrent degree of cultural change rely on four factors, namely: the nature of the hazard, the pre‐disaster socio‐cultural context and capacity of resilience of the community, the geographical setting, and the rehabilitation policy set up by the authorities. These factors significantly vary in time and space, from one disaster to another.

It is important to perceive local variations of the foregoing factors to better anticipate the capability of traditional societies to overcome the damage caused by the occurrence of natural hazards and therefore predict eventual cultural change.

This article takes off from the previous vulnerability‐driven literature by emphasizing the resilience of traditional societies.

To evaluate and examine human perception of causes, frequency, duration, impact, adjustment patterns and local attempts of control, protection and flood prediction in Niger Delta. This will enable rural dwellers to appreciate some local flood control measures.

Through questionnaires administered in reclaimed areas of urban centres and flood prone communities in the Niger Delta. The data abstracted from questionnaires were then analyzed through Kruskal‐Wallis Function. The Kruskal‐Wallis approach was used as it takes care of large data points, which consists of nominal or ordinal data.

Human perception of flooding as regards impact and local attempts at flood prediction differ among Niger Delta States. The study highlights the socio‐economic implications of flooding as regards to causes, effects, control and predictive measures.

Assist rural dwellers on cheaper local and emergency measures such as use of sand bars, opening up of creeks and assess, cleaning of drainages to allow free flow.

The paper suggests continuous enlightenment programs as a means to encourage local and emergency measures to be adopted when flooding occurs. The work is original as no such work or analysis had been carried out in the Niger Delta in the past. The paper has provided raw data and knowledge, and adds to the limited literature in the Niger Delta. On the flooding cycles of the Niger Delta. It should also raise the awareness of local dwellers on the requirements for flood emergency response and adjustment.

This paper aims to determine and compare the vulnerability of selected indigenous communities in the Philippines using several integrated index development approaches. Better understanding on how negative impacts of climate change could be effectively reduced is the identification of appropriate vulnerability assessment approach that is applicable to the local and cultural contexts. Critical in the case of indigenous communities is the analyses of determinants of vulnerability by and with themselves.

Using the survey data of combined 169 households, vulnerability scores of two adjacent Alangan Mangyan indigenous communities were quantified utilizing a set of 31 indicators that were systematically combined via the balanced-weighted (composite index) and unbalanced-weighted (principal component analysis) approaches.

The computed vulnerability scores of the Alangan Mangyan communities using several approaches yielded varying results. In both study sites, the degree of vulnerability is differentiated even among households of indigenous communities of comparable socio-economic characteristics. The developed indices confirm that typhoons, level of education, literacy rate and monthly income were found to have direct effect on the Alangan Mangyan communities’ vulnerability.

The study has successfully tested various methodological frameworks in implementing vulnerability assessment applicable in the context of indigenous communities in the Philippines. Results highlighted the need to simultaneously implement several vulnerability assessment approaches to allow comparison of results instead of solely basing climate change vulnerability-reduction programs to be implemented to a single assessment approach.