Livelihood Capitals, Income Inequality, and the Perception of Climate Change: A Case Study of Small-Scale Cattle Farmers in the Ecuadorian Andes

Bolier Torres, Jhenny Cayambe, Susana Paz, Kelly Ayerve, Marco Heredia-R, Emma Torres, Marcelo Luna, Theofilos Toulkeridis and Antón García
Additional contact information
Bolier Torres: Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Estatal Amazónica (UEA), Puyo 160101, Ecuador
Jhenny Cayambe: School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador Sede Ibarra (PUCESI), Ibarra 100112, Ecuador
Susana Paz: Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Estatal Amazónica (UEA), Puyo 160101, Ecuador
Kelly Ayerve: Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida, Universidad Estatal Amazónica (UEA), Puyo 160101, Ecuador
Marco Heredia-R: Corporación para el Desarrollo Sostenible, Conservación y Cambio Climático (DSC), Tena 150150, Ecuador
Emma Torres: Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo (UTEQ), Quevedo Av. Quito km, 1 1/2 vía a Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, Quevedo 120550, Ecuador
Marcelo Luna: Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Estatal Amazónica (UEA), Puyo 160101, Ecuador
Theofilos Toulkeridis: Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Construcción, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE, Sangolquí 171103, Ecuador
Antón García: Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of 2015 identify poverty, growth, and inequality as three key areas of intervention towards the UN 2030 Agenda for human well-being and sustainability. Herein, the predominant objectives are: (a) To determine the poverty groups by quintiles through the cattle income in households of small milk producers; (b) To characterize rural livelihoods by using capital theory; and (c) To assess the perception of climate change (CC) and the willingness to accept adaptation as well as mitigation measures. The current study was performed in communities that are located in the Ecuadorian Andes, where some 178 surveys were conducted with indigenous Kichwa and mestizo heads of households. From the total net income determined, five groups were organized. The Lorenz curve was applied as a general indicator of the relative inequality, as well as the Gini coefficient (G). On the basis of the theory of capital, the human, social, natural, physical, and financial characteristics were determined, and seven variables were considered to evaluate the perception and willingness to accept mitigation and adaptation actions of the given quintiles. The result of the Gini coefficient was 0.52, which indicates that the poorest 20% of the population only receives 3.40% of the income, while the richest 20% of the quintile obtain about 54% of the total income. It is evident that most producers know little about CC, but that they are willing to receive strengthening programs. Therefore, it is essential to establish strategic guidelines from public policy in order to reduce inequality and to improve the social welfare of producers, with a transversal axis in the strengthening of the capacities on the impact, mitigation, and adaptation to CC, as well as the provision of several tools, such as access to climate information.

Keywords: indigenous; poverty; inequality; climate change; Lorenz curve (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5028/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/9/5028/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5028-:d:799654

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().