Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the social vulnerability and adaptive capacity of fisherfolk in Garchitorena, Camarines Sur to the impacts of climate change. Following the causal-comparative research design, the quantitative method was employed, and 460 of 1,959 registered fisherfolk were interviewed. Because fisherfolk are exposed and sensitive to climate change impacts, their social vulnerability is high. The study found that those with motorized boats and who have other sources of income are highly vulnerable in terms of demographic and economic factors, whereas fisherfolk with nonmotorized boats are highly vulnerable in terms of social factors. In addition, fisherfolk with nonmotorized boats are far less adaptive economically compared with the others. Furthermore, fisherfolk suffer from different levels of social vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change owing to the significant difference found in their presumed attributes. Most of the identified variables are factors influencing the level of social vulnerability of fisherfolk, except for the training activities and seminars attended. The factors influencing the fisherfolk’s adaptive capacity to the impacts of climate change are age, household size, years spent in school, monthly per capita income, sources of income, number of household members employed, membership of social groups, distance of dwelling place to disaster-prone areas, and training activities and seminars attended. Therefore, a gender-sensitive investigation based on the concept of this study can be conducted to specifically address the differences and factors that could affect the social vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change impacts of male and female fisherfolk.