Definition
According to the IPCC’s definition “vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity”.[1]
Assessing Vulnerability
Adaptation strategies typically draw on vulnerability assessments. These centre on the most vulnerable groups, sectors or systems and identify areas with a need for action. In situations of high uncertainty, it is most appropriate to reduce vulnerability to climate change and increase the population's resilience. In cases where uncertainty is less severe and change can be predicted to some extent, direct impact-related adaptation measures are feasible (see also framework planning and coordination).
Vulnerability assessments (VAs) employ different methods to identify and measure vulnerabilities of a society, sometimes called a social-ecological system in the literature. This term emphasises that the vulnerability of real people is mediated by social factors and not determined by climate change and ecosystems alone. VAs explore these links between ecology and society in order to find out the nature and extent to which climate change is actually harmful to people's livelihoods. They also help mitigate two key uncertainties about climate change, that is, what to adapt to and how to adapt.
The different methods are designed to answer these questions in different ways. For example, a bottom-up assessment focuses on individual or local livelihoods and identifies exactly how people on the ground are aware of and vulnerable to climate change. A top-down assessment can be done on a much more aggregated level, aiming to find out how climate change affect an economic sector, such as irrigated agriculture, or show linkages between sectors via impact chains. Other types of assessment are used for evaluating adaptation policies or as a kick-starting strategy for community-based adaptation.
Practical Guidelines
For a more in-depth literature on vulnerability assessments, see the references cited in the overview on AdaptationCommunity. [2] In the AdaptationCommunity knowledge base, you can find experiences of vulnerability assessments from different countries, some of which pertain specifically to the water sector.
References
- ↑ IPCC (2007): Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group II Report. http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/contents.html [accessed 17 April 2013]
- ↑ AdaptationCommunity.net: Vulnerability Assessments. https://gc21.giz.de/ibt/var/app/wp342deP/1443/index.php/knowledge/vulnerability-assessment/
Birkmann, J., Wisner, B. (2005): Measuring the Un-Measurable - The Challenge of Vulnerability. Report of the Second Meeting of the UNU-EHS Expert Working Group on Measuring Vulnerability, 12-14 October 2005, Bonn, Germany.
