Climate Change, Livelihood Diversification and Well-Being The Case of Rural Odisha

This book assesses the capacity of the rural populace in terms of their ability to perceive a change in climatic variables and, if so, how they react to these changes in order to minimize the adverse effect of climate change. It evaluates the role of education and exposure to change in physiological variables like temperature, precipitation, etc., in forming the right perception of climate change. While analysing livelihood diversification as a strategy to cope with climate change concerns across geography (districts), caste, education and the primary occupation of the households, the book also considers factors affecting diversification. One important aspect of well-being is consumption; thus, by focusing on consumption changes over time and relating it to livelihood diversification, the book makes an in-depth analysis of the coping mechanisms. Diversification adopted in the face of compulsion and in a situation of stagnancy may result in a range of low productivity activities, whereas diversification as an attempt to explore newer pathways in a vibrant context to reduce income risks and smooth consumption can be highly beneficial. The book, thus, focuses on job profile and occupational diversification of the sample households, the extent of instability in occupations and the distribution of households in terms of consumption pattern, the inter-temporal changes in it and the determinants. The book is useful for researchers, students in environmental studies, policy-makers, NGOs and also the common reader who wants to understand climate change, its effects on livelihoods and ways to overcome the shocks. It reflects on effective policies which can create awareness and empower people to explore opportunities for livelihood creation so that the overall is sustained if not improved.

Chapter 1. Climate change impact on livelihood and well-being of rural poor.

Arup Mitra is Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. He earlier served as Director General of the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development (NILERD) and as Dean, Faculty of Economics, South Asian University.  He also worked as Senior Researcher at the International Labour Organization (Geneva), was offered a visiting fellowship at the Institute of Developing Economies (Tokyo), held the Indian Economy Chair at Sciences Po (Paris) and was Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University (Japan). The Indian Econometric Society awarded him the Mahalanobis Memorial Gold Medal for his outstanding contributions in the field of quantitative economics and his book on Inclusive Growth (Springer, 2013) received the S.R. Sen best book award in 2019. 

Saudamini Das is NABARD Chair Professor at the institute and is Fellow of South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), Kathmandu, and worked as Mälar scholar at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, during 2011–12. Her research areas are climate change adaptation, assessment of loss and damage to livelihood due to climate change, valuation of ecosystem services, coastal vulnerability analysis and evaluation of public policy. 

Amarnath Tripathi is Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics and International Business, School of Business Studies, Sharda University, India. Previously, he was with the Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune; Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi and Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, and post doctorate from Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, under Think Tank Initiative of International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada. 

Tapas Sarangi is Assistant Director, NILERD, New Delhi and before that he worked as ‘Think Tank Initiative Fellow’ at Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi; as ‘Senior Researcher’ and as ‘Visiting Fellow’ at Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), Hyderabad; ‘Senior Research Officer’ (DGM Rank) with the NABARD—Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow, and as Consultant at Xavier Institute of Management (XIM), Bhubaneswar.  

T. Ranganathan is Associate Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, India. Prior to that he was Assistant Professor at IIM Nagpur, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.  He obtained his Ph.D. from IIT Bombay, and his areas of specialization are agriculture and plantation crops, employment and social security.