Factors influencing farmer vulnerability to climate change in Can Tho City, Vietnamese Mekong River Delta

Farmer vulnerability to climate change is typically assessed using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI), which considers various social-ecological components, including livelihood strategies, health, food security, natural disasters, and climate variability. This study aims to advance this field of climate change vulnerability assessment by complementing the LVI approach with Decision Tree Analysis (DTA). Rather than serving as a predictive model, DTA was applied as an exploratory tool to identify and hierarchically prioritize the key factors influencing farmer livelihood vulnerability. The nine components addressed were Hazard, Damages, Sociodemographic Profiles, Housing Condition, Health, Accessibility, Finance, Livelihood Strategies, and Social Network. The study was conducted in Can Tho City, located in the Vietnamese Mekong River Delta. The results showed that the vulnerability level in Can Tho City ranged from low to moderate based on the LVI. Among the components considered, the Finance component had the highest score, while the Health component had the lowest. However, the DTA showed that the Health component was the most influential factor affecting LVI. Overall, the study highlights the need to address health-related issues to reduce LVI, particularly access to medical services and clean water, which are often overlooked. Methodologically, the study demonstrates that DTA can effectively complement the LVI framework by offering insights into the structure and relative importance of vulnerability components.