An asset-based approach to vulnerability

The case of small-scale fishing areas in Cameroon and Nigeria

authored by

Levison S. Chiwaula, Rudolf Witt, Hermann Waibel

Abstract

This paper analyses vulnerability to poverty of rural small-scale fishing communities using cross-section data from 295 households in Cameroon and 267 in Nigeria. We propose a vulnerability measure that incorporates the idea of asset poverty into the concept of expected poverty, which allows decomposing expected poverty into expected structural-chronic, structural-transient, and stochastic-transient poverty. The findings show that most households in our study areas are expected to be structurally-chronic and structurally-transient poor. This underlines the importance of asset formation for long-term poverty reduction strategies. Further refinements are possible with longitudinal data and information about future states of nature.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Development and Agricultural Economics

Type

Article

Journal

Journal of Development Studies

Volume

47

Pages

338-353

No. of pages

16

ISSN

0022-0388

Publication date

02.2011

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Development

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 1 - No Poverty

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1080/00220381003599410 (Access: Closed)