Resumen
Increase in water induced risks are realized with marginal settlements being more vulnerable due to limited adaptive capacity. The challenge put forward by climate change, in absence of adequate formal strategies, has forced the dwellers of marginal settlements, over the years, to adopt local adaptation strategies to survive the risk and live in harmony with water. The highly diverse characteristics based on livelihoods and social networks provide for adaptive capacity of the dwellers. The objective of the paper is to identify these strategies based on livelihoods or the daily activities of the dwellers within the marginal settlements in different territories. Rural marginal communities in Northern Mozambique and urban in Mumbai are assessed by direct observations, interpretation from collected images and literature review to present a framework of strategies based on livelihoods. Result provides for holistic findings that contribute to the lexicon of water-risk adaptation for marginal settlements in developing countries.