Social vulnerability of coastal fish farming community to tidal (Rob) flooding: a case study from Indramayu, Indonesia

Abstract Climate-related disasters increasingly threaten over one-third of the global population, specifical communities within 100 km coastal zones. Indonesia, world’s largest archipelago with second-longest coastline, faces tidal (Rob) flooding from high tides, land subsidence, and sea-level rise. This study assess fish farmers’ vulnerability to Rob in Java’s Indramayu District. Our Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI)’s development involved 150 questionnaires, focus group discussion, key-informant interviews between 16 20 October 2019. It found a vulnerability, SoVI score + 1.76 comprising nine principal components (PCs): external support government mitigation, local knowledge, income, expenditure, family size, seasonal-expenditure, education, experience, ethnicity. Contributing ‘vulnerability’ ‘resilience’ concepts, it highlights community memory repeated its impact on adaptive capacity. Findings inform policymakers address PCs influencing including critically-needed livelihood early-warning systems relevant country’s 12,000 coastal-villages developing countries where 90% fishermen live.