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

by Patt, Anthony G.

• ISBN13: 9781844076970
• ISBN10: 1844076970
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-02-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

"The book provides the most comprehensive synthesis of definitions, theories, formalization and applications to date, illustrated with examples from different disciplines, regions and periods, and from local through to regional, national and international levels. Case study topics cover sea level rise, vulnerability to changes in ecosystem services, assessing the vulnerability of human health and 'double exposure' to climate change and trade liberalization amongst other issues. 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."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Anthony Patt leads the Decisions and Governance Research Group in the Program on Risk and Vulnerability at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria. Dagmar Schroumlet;ter is currently scientific coordinator of a European Era-Net project on climate change adaptation. Richard Klein coordinates climate policy research at the Stockholm Environment Institute. Anne Cristina de la Vega-Leinert is currently a researcher and lecturer in applied geography at Griefswald University, Germany.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. vii
List of Contributors	p. ix
Forewords	p. xvii
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations	p. xxiii
Vulnerability Research and Assessment to Support Adaptation and Mitigation: Common Themes from the Diversity of Approaches	p. 1
The House is Both Empty and Sad: Social Vulnerability, Environmental Disturbance, Economic Change and the Irish Potato Famine	p. 27
Vulnerability Assessments in the Developed World: The UK and Norway	p. 41
Vulnerability Assessments in the Developing World: Mozambique and South Africa	p. 61
Global Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise: Experience from Dinas-Coast	p. 79
Our Vulnerability to Changes in Ecosystem Services	p. 97
Assessing Vulnerability of Human Health	p. 115
Mapping Double Exposure to Climate Change and Trade Liberalization as an Awareness-Raising Tool	p. 133
An Agent-Based Framework for Assessing Vulnerability Futures	p. 147
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	p. 173
Evaluation of a Stakeholder Dialogue on European Vulnerability to Global Change	p. 195
Defining Dangerous Climate Change: The Beijing Exercise	p. 215
A Framework for Analysing Methodologies of Vulnerability Assessments	p. 231
Index	p. 251
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