Attributable factors for climate change adaptation among urban informal settlers of a least developed country, Bhutan

With a fragile mountain ecosystem and being a least developed country, Bhutan is the most vulnerable to climate change with a serious impact on the environment and people, especially to poor informal settlers in urban areas. Therefore, the present study intends to evaluate the vulnerability and adaptation strategies of the urban poor of Thimphu, Bhutan by collecting primary data using a pre-tested questionnaire from 299 households of the slum dwellers distributed in three gewogs, namely Kawang, Mewang and Chang. The questionnaire contained ques-tions on general household information, climate change, and associated adaptation strategies as per the framing of the crisis among the dwellers. The result revealed that the meteorological observation of climatic parameters matched the perception of the informal dwellers. Moreover, dwellers of informal settlements had higher climate risk with low adaptive capacity. Current adaptation strategies such as assistance provided and received, credit support obtained, economizing water usage during scarcity, and allowing extraction of resources from the forest were extended during crises. The logit model resulted that household characteristics, such as family size, family education, and age of the head of household were major demographic characteristics along with assets propelling adaptation measures. Therefore, urban planning should orient for better education and income generating programs for the dwellers besides making them aware of the economizing of resources. Improvement in public services will further strengthen the dwellers with enhanced adaptive capacity.