Through a range of methods we have thus contributed an empirically grounded and theoretically

informed understanding of climate vulnerability. With our seasonal calendars, explicitly building on our field data and design, we are able to study the temporal Captisol interactions between nature and society, thereby considering climatic, agronomic and disease dynamics in a place-based setting, as suggested by Thompson (2009). From this we show that time and timing are significant for understanding exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacities in any attempt to contextualize climate vulnerability. Not only does this exercise generate insights into how these stressors are interrelated, i.e., how they feed into and off each other by contributing to different sensitivities at different times of the year, depending on the type of exposure, it also illustrates that when exposure, sensitivity and limited adaptive capacity converge RXDX-101 solubility dmso in time, climate vulnerabilities are greater because of destructive reinforcing feedbacks RG7420 on the human-environment system. In addition, we show that farmers engage in continuous, yet reactive and autonomous adaptation to climate vulnerability by relying on past experiences of dealing with climate extremes, despite their waning viability in times of increasing climate uncertainty. Current differential adaptive capacities between households and communities

indicate Tau-protein kinase a deficit in adaptation potential among smallholder farmers in the LVB, which makes life especially troublesome and the future highly uncertain. In all this, age and gender are pronounced aspects of the capacity of a person, a household or a community to

cope with climate-induced impacts, not to mention increasing the adaptive capacities to reduce climate vulnerability. The wheel of hardship underscores how households rely on a steady flow of cash, food and (healthy) labor power to manage converging aspects of exposure and sensitivities. Historically, farmers have often managed this through increased diversification, which is also seen as a strategy emphasized and promoted by the World Bank (2008). However, our study illustrates that livelihood diversification at household levels is becoming increasingly undermined as a livelihood strategy and that the alternatives, in terms of migration and extension of agriculture, now offer only limited opportunities. The only other feasible adaptation strategy for the LVB is therefore to intensify agricultural production. But, as previously mentioned, this hinges not only on peoples’ ability to pool labor but also on increased knowledge about how to farm more sustainably in times of global environmental change (Pretty et al. 2011). To enable farmers to do this clearly requires governmental action and financial investment.