Socio-Economic Vulnerability of Climate Change: A Geographical Study Of Rajasthan

Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 5 [SepOct] Year 2025 438 © 2025 Pragati Pandey, Prof. Monika Kannan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Research Article Socio-Economic Vulnerability of Climate Change: A Geographical Study Of Rajasthan Pragati Pandey 1*, Prof. Monika Kannan 2 1Assistant Professor, HOD, Dept. Of Geography, SMM Government Girls College, Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India 2HOD, Department of Geography & Dean Research, Coordinator, IQAC, Sophia College, Autonomous, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India Corresponding Author: *Pragati Pandey DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17432823 Abstract Manuscript Information Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts may result from natural processes or human activities. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change. Rajasthan, a state that is located in north-western India, is known for its arid and desert landscapes. While climate change has a huge impact throughout the geographical area of Rajasthan, certain regions are still more vulnerable than others. The effects of climate change are not the same and differ for various population groups. Some social groups are more susceptible to climate change than others because of their inability to cope, adapt, and heal. Knowing which communities are more vulnerable to climate change than others is crucial for making better policies. The identification of indicators that can estimate the current state of socioeconomic conditions is necessary for examining the socioeconomic vulnerability to climate change. This research aims to evaluate the socioeconomic susceptibility of the 10 most populated districts of Rajasthan and suggest strategies to mitigate it. For this Study, data is collected from Secondary Sources like the Census of India, RSAPCC (Rajasthan State Action Plan on Climate Change). For this study, SocioEconomic Indicators like Population density, Female Literacy, Mean household size, Population growth rate, etc., are used to calculate Socio-Economic vulnerability. Mean, Standard Deviation, and Principal Component Analysis will be used for the analysis of data. ▪ ISSN No: 2583-7397 ▪ Received: 04-08-2025 ▪ Accepted: 30-09-2025 ▪ Published: 24-10-2025 ▪ IJCRM:4(5); 2025: 438-444 ▪ ©2025, All Rights Reserved ▪ Plagiarism Checked: Yes ▪ Peer Review Process: Yes How to Cite this Article Pandey P, Kannan M. Socioeconomic vulnerability of climate change: A geographical study of Rajasthan. Int J Contemp Res Multidiscip. 2025;4(5):438-444. Access this Article Online www.multiarticlesjournal.com KEYWORDS: Climate Change, Vulnerable People, Socio-Economic vulnerability, Socio-Economic Indicators. 1. INTRODUCTION Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area. The classical period is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO,2017). Climate affects every aspect of human life, from food sources to transport, from what clothes we wear to where we go for holiday. It has a huge impact on our daily lives, our health, and our future. According to UNO, Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural or due to human activities. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. Climate scientists have shown that humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. Rajasthan state action Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 5 [SepOct] Year 2025 439 © 2025 Pragati Pandey, Prof. Monika Kannan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ plan on climate change 2022 says that total precipitation has increased in the western and northern parts of Rajasthan (RSAPCC,2022). According to some other reports average temperature has increased, and heat waves are more frequent and severe. Socio-economic vulnerability to climate change refers to the sensitivity of the social and economic status of the community to the adverse impacts of climate change. It is decided not only by the exposure to climate risks but also by the capacity of individuals, households, or sectors to cope with and recover from climate change impacts. At present, Climate change is a global threat. Research on climate change and vulnerability to natural hazards has made significant progress over the last decades. Most of the research has been devoted to improving the quality of climate information and hazard data. Less attention has been given to the assessment of vulnerability. Aspects of Vulnerability: - ➢ Exposure ➢ Sensitivity ➢ Adaptive Capacity Study Area This study aims to evaluate the socio-economic vulnerability of the 10 most populous districts of Rajasthan. So, the 10 most populous districts of Rajasthan State have been chosen for this geographical study. Table 1, which is given below, shows showing population of those districts. Figure 1 shows showing Locational map of the study area. Table 1: Population of the districts Source: Census of India 2011 Figure 1: Locational map of the study area Source: Census of India 2011 OBJECTIVES 1. To find out the most Vulnerable district among the 10 most populated districts of Rajasthan. 2. To suggest strategies to mitigate vulnerability. DATA COLLECTION AND METHODOLOGY This paper is a review paper. This study analyzes the socioeconomic vulnerability of climate change. Data is collected from secondary sources only. Secondary data is collected from the Census of India 2011, Rajasthan state action plan on climate change, IPCC reports, websites, reports of the United Nations, fact sheets, district statistical handbook of selected districts, articles, brochures, publications, journal, and newspapers etc. A total of six socioeconomic indicators have been chosen for Vulnerability mapping. Indicators are population density, Sex Ratio, Population in the age group 0-6, Literacy rate, working population Percentage, and Growth rate of Population. ➢ Statistical tools like sum, average, mean, and mean deviation are used for the analysis of the Data. ➢ Study Area map and vulnerability map created by GIS Software. ➢ Showed Zones of Vulnerability through Thematic mapping. ➢ Maps, diagrams, and graphs are used to show the data. RESULT AND DISCUSSION The present study examines the socio-economic susceptibility of the ten most populated districts of Rajasthan to climate change. The analysis is based on selected socio-economic indicators, including Sex Ratio, Population in age group 0-6, Literacy rate, working population Percentage, and Growth rate of Population. The deviation of each indicator for every district was calculated from the Rajasthan state mean value of every indicator. These deviations were then aggregated to get a composite score to show the relative vulnerability of each Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 5 [SepOct] Year 2025 440 © 2025 Pragati Pandey, Prof. Monika Kannan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ district. A higher summed value indicates lower vulnerability, while a lower summed value signifies higher vulnerability. Table 2: socio-economic indicators Source: RSAPCC, 2022 -100 -50 0 50 DEVIATION FROM MEAN VALUE OF SEX RATIO DEVIATION FROM MEAN -400 -200 0 200 400 DEVIATION FROM MEAN VALUE OF POPULATION DENSITY DEVIATION FROM MEAN Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 5 [SepOct] Year 2025 441 © 2025 Pragati Pandey, Prof. Monika Kannan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 DEVIATION FROM MEAN DEVIATION FROM MEAN VALUE OF LITERACY -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 DEVIATION FROM MEAN OF WORKER POPULATION DEVIATION FROM MEAN -200000 0 200000 400000 600000 DEVIATION FROM MEAN VALUE OF 0-6 AGE GROUP POPULATION DEVIATION FROM 0-6 Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 5 [SepOct] Year 2025 442 © 2025 Pragati Pandey, Prof. Monika Kannan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Table 3: Zones of Vulnerability ZONE OF VULNERABILITY VALUE DISTRICTS VERY HIGH ABOVE 40 JAIPUR HIGH 30-40 UDAIPUR, BARMER, ALWAR, JODHPUR, BHARATPUR MEDIUM 20-30 NAGAUR, SIKAR, AJMER LOW BELOW 20 BHILWARA Figure 2: Thematic map for zones of Vulnerability -10 -5 0 5 10 15 DEVIATION FROM MEAN VALUE OF GROWTH RATE DEVIATION FROM GROWTH RATE Int. Jr. of Contemp. Res. in Multi. PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL Volume 4 Issue 5 [SepOct] Year 2025 443 © 2025 Pragati Pandey, Prof. Monika Kannan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY NC ND).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Table 3 and Figure 2 both show that Jaipur is the most vulnerable and Bhilwara is the least vulnerable among the ten most populated districts in Rajasthan. Suggestions to mitigate Vulnerability 1. Education – it enables people to make wise decisions, and it encourages them to change their attitudes and perspectives towards climate change. 2. Reduce poverty - by increasing employment, Skill development for jobs, and an increase in household industries. 3. The housing department should make urban areas more spacious and liveable. 4. Reduction in the number of non-working population should be done. 5. Strict Efforts for Population Control. 6. Reduce Migration by providing better services in all sectors. 7. Quality of life should be improved. CONCLUSION The present study focuses on the spatial variation in socioeconomic vulnerability to climate change across the ten most populated districts of Rajasthan. The results clearly show that socio-economic factors of the study area significantly influence the adaptive capacity of people towards climate change. Overall, all this research work emphasizes that climate vulnerability in Rajasthan is as much a socio-economic issue as it is an environmental one. Reducing vulnerability needs an integrated approach that integrates economic development, education, and infrastructure improvement with efficient climate adaptation strategies. Policymakers and the government should focus on district-specific plans to enhance resilience, particularly in rural and arid regions. Future research may expand this research work by including more districts, integrating environmental indicators, and using advanced statistical methods or GIS-based tools and techniques to further refine the vulnerability assessment framework. REFERENCES 1. Huntington E. Civilization and Climate. Honolulu (HI): University Press of the Pacific; 1915. 2. Census of India. Census of India Website. Available from: https://censusindia.gov.in/ 3. RSAPCC. The Rajasthan State Action Plan on Climate Change [Internet]. 2022. Available from: https://www.lsg.urban.rajasthan.gov.in 4. United Nations. What is climate change? [Internet]. United Nations; [cited 2025 Oct 23]. Available from: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climatechange 5. Birkmann J, et al. Understanding human vulnerability to climate change: A global perspective on index validation for adaptation planning [Internet]. 2022. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii 6. Dimitrov G. Effects of climate change on women. Research Review International Journal of Multidisciplinary. 2019;4(5). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333292491 7. District Statistical Handbooks. Creative Commons (CC) License This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. About the Corresponding Author Pragati Pandey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at SMM Govt Girls College, Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India. Climate change, climate change vulnerability, socioeconomic development, and environmental sustainability are the topics of her research. She has presented her work at workshops and national conferences. Her current work contributes to policyoriented geographical studies by examining the socioeconomic effects of climate change in Rajasthan.