How vulnerable are Wular Lake fishing communities compared to non-fishing communities in rural Kashmir? Insights and interventions for development

Wular Lake, one of the largest wetlands in Asia (13,000 ha in Kashmir Valley) is a biodiversity-rich Ramsar site supporting nearly 32,000 rural people involved in harvesting fish, water chestnuts, lotus stems and fodder. With 2914 active fishers, Wular Lake contributes 54% of Kashmir's total fish catch. Large-scale land-use changes and global warming have resulted in siltation, reduced lake area and alterations in the water flow regime, threatening lake ecology and human livelihoods. A novel census-based multi-criteria Socio-Economic Vulnerability Index (SEVI) was used to assess the vulnerability status of 23 fishing and 115 non-fishing adjacent villages. All the fishing villages exhibited ‘low’ (0.21–0.40) vulnerability levels, except Kunas village (0.42). Interestingly, no significant differences could be found in vulnerability levels between fishing (23) and non-fishing (115) villages, although the former exhibited relatively higher social sensitivity. A graphical decision matrix based on sensitivity and adaptive capacity scores provided a snapshot of vulnerability status for each village. Using SEVI scores, drivers (i.e., key indicators responsible for high sensitivity & low adaptive capacity) were identified and corresponding village-specific development interventions are suggested with Kunas as an illustrative case village. Improving education levels, strengthening community and rural infrastructure, and expanding livelihood options were key short-term strategies for improving resilience in Kashmir's Wular region.