Climate Change and Drought: Impact of Food Insecurity on Gender Based Vulnerability in District Tharparkar

Climate change has now become a reality that has intensifiedthe sufferings of people living in arid ecosystems. Decrease inrainfall, rise in temperature and increase in the frequency of extremeevents are some of the changes observed in the semi-arid desert ofdistrict Tharparkar. For thousands of years, people of Tharparkar arecoping with drought and aridity of the land by using indigenousknowledge. However, global changes in the climatic pattern anddeterioration of social and economic conditions have pushed theinhabitants of this arid region into extreme vulnerable situation. Thispaper investigates the link between climate-induced natural disasters,particularly drought, from the perspective of changing climate patternswhich have resulted in food insecurity and water scarcity. The paperanalyses the rainfall pattern in the last 38 years—dividing it into twoperiods i.e. from 1975-1994 and 1995-2014. The findings of the paperhave challenged the prevailing notions about aridity and rainfallpatterns in Tharparkar district. The research found that there is anincrease in average annual precipitation in the district with erraticpatterns. Thus, the nature of drought in the district has changed fromits historic pattern of less or no rainfall to more but erratic rainfallthat is more threatening to livelihoods of the people that in turn havemultiplier effect on water and food insecurity. In particularly, womenare more vulnerable in the absence of social security and lack of basicnecessities for their survival amidst drought. For instance,traditionally the burden of managing water resources falls on women,which leads to an increased work load during the time of drought andalso water scarcity. JEL Classification: Q54, Q56, Q25, I30 Keywords:Climate, Environment and Development, Drought, Water, Poverty