What prevents small-scale fishing and aquaculture households from engaging in alternative livelihoods? A case study in the Tam Giang lagoon, Viet Nam

The adoption of alternative livelihoods is often considered as an effective way to reduce natural resource exploitation and improve local resource users' well-being. Nevertheless, studies demonstrate that especially for small-scale fishing and aquaculture households it often can be hard to engage in alternative livelihoods. The initiation and reproduction of alternative livelihoods are not straightforward but shaped by various social-economic factors and processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales. Yet, studies frequently limit their analysis to household or extra-household levels. This paper develops a conceptual framework for a cross-scale analysis of livelihood diversification and applies it in a case study of small-scale fisheries and aquacultural livelihoods in the Tam Giang lagoon, Viet Nam to explain how social and ecological processes limit and enable engagement in alternative livelihoods. The framework and case study aim to go beyond the identification of single factors to demonstrate combinations of factors and processes, and how these play out differently for generations. From this study, the paper confirms that improvements in education, labour skills and job availability are necessary for the engagement in alternative livelihoods. It further argues that the success of interventions aimed at diversifying rural livelihoods need to consider generational differences within households, and the specific social and ecological contexts in which households are situated.