Climate change and social vulnerability

Bohle, Hans‐Georg; Downing, Thomas E.; Watts, Michael

doi:10.1016/0959-3780(94)90020-5

Cited by 667 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Diversification is an overarching strategy aimed at reducing risks and increasing options in the face of hazards used worldwide and across economic classes and political economies, in some cases at the cost of reduced material well being (29,32,34,37,38,44,45). Such strategies notwithstanding, much of entitlement, endowment, and coping capacity rests within social, economic, institutional, and political structures (44)(45)(46), and therefore vulnerability analysis must account for them.…”

Section: The Emergence Of Vulnerability Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

Turner

Kasperson

Matson

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

3,317

2,056

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Global environmental change and sustainability science increasingly recognize the need to address the consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere. These changes raise questions such as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental changes underway, and where? Research demonstrates that vulnerability is registered not by exposure to hazards (perturbations and stresses) alone but also resides in the sensitivity and resilience of the system experiencing such hazards. This recognition requires revisions and enlargements in the basic design of vulnerability assessments, including the capacity to treat coupled human-environment systems and those linkages within and without the systems that affect their vulnerability. A vulnerability framework for the assessment of coupled humanenvironment systems is presented. R esearch on global environmental change has significantly improved our understanding of the structure and function of the biosphere and the human impress on both (1). The emergence of ''sustainability science'' (2-4) builds toward an understanding of the human-environment condition with the dual objectives of meeting the needs of society while sustaining the life support systems of the planet. These objectives, in turn, require improved dialogue between science and decision making (5-8). The vulnerability of coupled human-environment systems is one of the central elements of this dialogue and sustainability research (6, 9-11). It directs attention to such questions as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental and human changes underway, and where? How are these changes and their consequences attenuated or amplified by different human and environmental conditions? What can be done to reduce vulnerability to change? How may more resilient and adaptive communities and societies be built?Answers to these and related questions require conceptual frameworks that account for the vulnerability of coupled human-environment systems with diverse and complex linkages. Various expert communities have made considerable progress in pointing the way toward the design of these frameworks (10, 11). These advances are briefly reviewed here and, drawing on them, we present a conceptual framework of vulnerability developed by the Research and Assessment Systems for Sustainability Program (http:͞͞sust.harvard.edu) that produced the set of works in this Special Feature of PNAS. The framework aims to make vulnerability analysis consistent with the concerns of sustainability and global environmental change science. The case study by Turner et al. (12) in this issue of PNAS illustrates how the framework informs vulnerability assessments. The Emergence of Vulnerability AnalysisApproaches to and Composition of Vulnerability. Vulnerability is the degree to which a system, subsystem, or system component is likely to experience harm due to exposure to a hazard, either a perturbation or stress͞stressor. i This definition and the concept it addresses are not new (13); they ...

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Section: The Emergence Of Vulnerability Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

Turner

Kasperson

Matson

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

3,317

2,056

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“…With regard to vulnerability to climate change, a growing number of researchers have focused on the socioeconomic processes that constrain the ability to cope with climatic hazards. Building on Sen's work (1990), Bohle et al (1994) and Adger and Kelly (1999) emphasize the social construction of vulnerability, focusing on the ways in which the availability of resources and the entitlement of individuals to call on these resources influence their capacity to adapt to climate changes. The importance of this adaptive capacity was highlighted in the IPCC's most recent assessment (Smit and Pilifosova, 2001).…”

Section: Change In Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

A Framework for Assessing the Vulnerability of Communities in the Canadian Arctic to Risks Associated with Climate Change

Ford¹,

Smit²

2004

ARCTIC

419

346

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ABSTRACT. Adaptation to climate change is recognized as an important policy issue by international bodies such as the United Nations and by various national governments. Initiatives to identify adaptation needs and to improve adaptive capacity increasingly start with an assessment of the vulnerability of the system of interest, in terms of who and what are vulnerable, to what stresses, in what way, and what capacity exists to adapt to changing risks. Notwithstanding the scholarship on climate change itself, there are few studies on the nature of Arctic communities' vulnerability to climate-change risks. We review existing literature on implications of climate change for Arctic communities, develop a conceptual model of vulnerability, and present an analytical approach to assessing climate hazards and coping strategies in Arctic communities. Vulnerability is conceptualized as a function of exposure to climatic stresses and the adaptive capacity to cope with these stresses. The analytical framework employs place-specific case studies involving community residents and integrates information from multiple sources, both to document current exposures and adaptations and to characterize future exposures and adaptive capacity.Key words: vulnerability, adaptation, adaptive capacity, climate change, environmental change, climatic risks, communities, Inuit, Canadian Arctic RÉSUMÉ. L'adaptation au changement climatique est perçue comme un enjeu crucial par les organes internationaux tels que les Nations unies et plusieurs gouvernements nationaux. Des initiatives visant l'identification des besoins en matière d'adaptation, ainsi que l'amélioration de la capacité adaptative, débutent de plus en plus par un bilan de la vulnérabilité du système en cause, c'est-à-dire qui et quoi est vulnérable à quels stress et de quelle manière, et quelle capacité existe pour une adaptation aux risques changeants. Malgré les travaux de recherche sur le changement climatique même, il n'existe que peu d'études sur la nature de la vulnérabilité des communautés arctiques aux risques découlant du changement climatique. On passe en revue la documentation qui existe sur les implications que représente le changement climatique pour les collectivités arctiques, on élabore un modèle conceptuel de vulnérabilité et on présente une approche analytique à l'évaluation des dangers dus au climat et des stratégies d'adaptation dans les collectivités arctiques. La vulnérabilité est conceptualisée sous la forme d'une fonction de l'exposition aux stress climatiques et de la capacité adaptative permettant de composer avec ces stress. Le cadre d'analyse fait appel à des études de cas spécifiques à un lieu, mettant en cause des résidents de la communauté, et il intègre de l'information venant de sources multiples afin de documenter les expositions et adaptations actuelles et de caractériser les futures expositions ainsi que la capacité d'adaptation correspondante.

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“…Further, they argued that socio-economic systems -typically are more vulnerable in developing countries where economic and institutional circumstances are less favourable‖. Also a common theme in the climate change impacts and vulnerability literature is the idea that countries, regions, economic sectors and social groups differ in their degree of vulnerability to climate change (Bohle et al, 1994). This is due partly to the fact that changes in climatic patterns are uneven and are also not evenly distributed around the globe.…”

Section: Identifying Key Factors Affecting Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%