Assessing Vulnerability to Global Environmental Change
Making Research Useful for Adaptation Decision Making and Policy

Assessing the vulnerability of human populations to global environmental change, particularly climate change, is the main imperative of research and international action. This book discusses vulnerability as the central theme and brings together many different applications from disaster studies, and climate change impact studies.

Research outcomes stress that science-policy dialogues must be transparent to be effective and concentrate on a mutual understanding of the concepts used. A key research finding is that the most useful information for decision makers is that which shows the separate causes and drivers of vulnerability, rather than presenting vulnerability in an aggregated form. The book concludes with a unifying framework for analysing integrated methodologies of vulnerability assessment and guiding how research and policy can be linked to reduce vulnerability.

Forewords by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber and Rik Leemans
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
1 Vulnerability Research and Assessment to Support Adaptation and Mitigation: Common Themes from the Diversity of Approaches
Anthony G.Patt, Dagmar Schri? ter, A.Cristina de la Vega-Leiner and Richard J.T. Klein
2 The House is Both Empty and Sad: Social Vulnerability, Environmental Disturbance, Economic Change and the Irish Potato Famine
Evan D.G. Fraser
3 Vulnerability Assessments in the Developed World:The UK and Norway
Ian Holman and Lars Otto Ni? ss
4 Vulnerability Assessments in the Developing World: Mozambique and South Africa
Siri Eriksen, Coleen Vogel, Gina Ziervogel, Franziska Steinbruch and Florence Nazare
5 Global Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise: Experience from DINAS-COAST
Richard J.T. Klein and Jochen Hinkel
6 Our Vulnerability to Changes in Ecosystem Services
Dagmar Schri? ter
7 Assessing Vulnerability of Human Health
Hans-Martin Fi? ssel and Kristie L. Ebi
8 Mapping Double Exposure to Climate Change and Trade Liberalization as an Awareness-Raising Tool
Robin Leichenko and Karen O'Brien 1566.qxd 8/11/08 8:54 AM Page v
9 An Agent-Based Framework for Assessing Vulnerability Futures
Lilibeth Acosta-Michlik and Mark Rounsevell
10 Assessing Financial and Economic Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Bridging the Gap between Scientific Assessment and the Implementation of Disaster Risk Management with the CatSim Model
Stefan Hochrainer and Reinhard Mechler
11 Evaluation of a Stakeholder Dialogue on European Vulnerability to Global Change
A. Cristina de la Vega-Leinert and Dagmar Schri? ter
12 Defining Dangerous Climate Change:The Beijing Exercise
Martin Welp, Antonella Battaglini and Carlo C. Jaeger
13 A Framework for Analysing Methodologies of Vulnerability Assessments
Jochen Hinkel
Index