Figures provide supplementary information for research by Biggs et al. [1] regarding fertilizer application, landscape management strategies, healthcare provisioning and educational facilities within plantations, as well as detailing the livelihood dimensions of tea workers.
The studies we summarise here sought to capture a further dimension of livelihood strategies: the patterns of household-level diversification into different livelihood activities.
Our novel contribution lies with the data collected itself and with our demonstration of the importance of using a historical susceptibility dimension coupled with a livelihood framing of resilience to ensure vulnerability in its entirety is represented.
In earlier papers, we presented a new framework for the study of access to health care in contexts of livelihood insecurity [ 1], and examined three dimensions of access, namely availability, affordability and accessibility, in the case of fever and mild malaria episodes in rural Tanzania [ 2- 4].
The concepts of vulnerability and livelihood security have been defined by their socioeconomic dimensions in livelihood studies (Swift 2006; Dehaan and Zoomers 2005; Chambers 2006).
Research in the field of coping with flood risks has largely focused on economics, livelihood, and agriculture; little attention has been given to health dimension of flooding (16, 17).
This case example of coupled social and ecological interactions through a livelihood lens gives rise to future research in evolving new dimensions to govern social-ecological systems in Uruguay and beyond.
Open image in new window Fig. 1 Dimensions of disaster vulnerability as affected by exposure, susceptibility, and livelihood resilience.
In this region, the sharing of waters between countries adds a critical dimension to decision making about producing food and energy, maintaining vital ecosystems, and sustaining livelihoods.
The occupational dimension is construed as a well-defined, rather narrow, attribute of an aggregate of individuals who derive their livelihood from agricultural production, or perhaps more broadly from employment in extractive industries, such as mining, fishing, forestry, and so on.
