Carmelita M. Rebancos

Levels and determinants of vulnerability of two indigenous communities in the Philippines

Purpose – This paper aims to determine and compare the vulnerability of selected indigenous communities in the Philippines using several integrated index development approaches. Better understanding on how negative impacts of climate change could be effectively reduced is the identification of appropriate vulnerability assessment approach that is applicable to the local and cultural contexts. Critical in the case of indigenous communities is the analyses of determinants of vulnerability by and with themselves. Design/methodology/approach – Using the survey data of combined 169 households, vulnerability scores of two adjacent Alangan Mangyan indigenous communities were quantified utilizing a set of 31 indicators that were systematically combined via the balanced-weighted (composite index) and unbalanced-weighted (principal component analysis) approaches. Findings – The computed vulnerability scores of the Alangan Mangyan communities using several approaches yielded varying results. In both study sites, the...