Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Theory and Practice in Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Change andFacilitating Adaptation

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We discuss approaches to the assessment of vulnerability to climatevariability and change andattempt to clarify the relationship between the concepts of vulnerability andadaptation. In searchof a robust, policy-relevant framework, we define vulnerability in terms ofthe capacity ofindividuals and social groups to respond to, that is, to cope with, recoverfrom or adapt to, anyexternal stress placed on their livelihoods and well-being. The approach thatwe develop placesthe social and economic well-being of society at the centre of the analysis,focussing on thesocio-economic and institutional constraints that limit the capacity torespond. From thisperspective, the vulnerability or security of any group is determined byresource availability andby the entitlement of individuals and groups to call on these resources. Weillustrate theapplication of this approach through the results of field research in coastalVietnam, highlightingshifting patterns of vulnerability to tropical storm impacts at the household-and community-levelin response to the current process of economic renovation and drawingconclusions concerningmeans of supporting the adaptive response to climate stress. Four prioritiesfor action areidentified that would improve the situation of the most exposed members ofmany communities:poverty reduction; risk-spreading through income diversification; respectingcommon propertymanagement rights; and promoting collective security. A sustainable response,we argue, mustalso address the underlying causes of social vulnerability, including theinequitable distributionof resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adger, W. N.: 1996, Approaches to Vulnerability to Climate Change, CSERGE Working Paper GEC 96-05, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia, Norwich, and University College London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N.: 1998, Observing Institutional Adaptation to Global Environmental Change: Theory and Case Study from Vietnam, Working Paper GEC 98-21, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia, Norwich, and University College London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N.: 1999a, 'Social Vulnerability to Climate Change and Extremes in Coastal Vietnam', World Develop. 27, 249-269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N.: 1999b, 'Exploring Income Inequality in Rural, Coastal Vietnam', J. Develop. Studies 35, 96-119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N.: 2000, 'Institutional Adaptation to Environmental Risk under the Transition in Vietnam', Ann. Assoc. Amer. Geogr. 90, 738-758.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N. and Kelly, P. M.: 1999, 'Social Vulnerability to Climate Change and the Architecture of Entitlements', Mitigation Adaptation Strategies Global Change 4, 253-256.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N. and Luttrell, C.: 1998, 'Property Rights and the Utilisation ofWetlands', in Soderqvist, T. (ed.), Wetlands: Landscape and Institutional Perspectives, Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm, pp. 167-186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., Kelly, P. M., Ninh, N. H., and Thanh, N. C.: 2001, 'Property Rights, Institutions and Coastal Management-Coastal Resources under Doi Moi', in Adger, W. N., Kelly, P. M., and Ninh, N. H. (eds.), Living with Environmental Change: Social Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience in Vietnam, Routledge, London, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., Kelly, P. M., Ninh, N. H., and Thanh, N. C.: 1997a, Property Rights and the Social Incidence of Mangrove Conversion in Vietnam, Working Paper GEC 97-21, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia, Norwich, and University College London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adger, W. N., Kelly, P. M., and Tri, N. H.: 1997b, 'Valuing the Products and Services of Mangrove Restoration', Commonwealth Forestry Rev. 76, 198-202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbier, E.: 1993, 'Sustainable Use of Wetlands Valuing Tropical Wetland Benefits: Economic Methodologies and Applications', Geog. J. 159, 22-32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardhan, P.: 1996, 'Efficiency, Equity and Poverty Alleviation: Policy Issues in Less Developed Countries', Econ. J. 106, 1344-1356.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bengtsson, L., Botzet, M., and Esch, M.: 1996, 'Will Greenhouse Gas-Induced Warming over the Next 50 Years Lead to Higher Frequencies and Greater Intensity of Hurricanes', Tellus 48A, 57-73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson, C.: 1997, The Economic Impact of Natural Disasters in Vietnam, Working Paper 98, Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I., and Wisner, B.: 1994, At Risk: Natural Hazards, Peoples Vulnerability and Disasters, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohle, H. G., Downing, T. E., and Watts, M. J.: 1994, 'Climate Change and Social Vulnerability: Toward a Sociology and Geography of Food Insecurity', Global Environ. Change 4, 37-48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brammer, H.: 1993, 'Geographical Complexities of Detailed Impacts Assessment for the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta of Bangladesh', in Warrick, R. A., Barrow, E. M., and Wigley, T. M. L. (eds.), Climate and Sea Level Change: Observations, Projections and Implications, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 246-262.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, I.: 1997, 'Vulnerability and Adaptive Response in the Context of Climate and Climate Change', Clim. Change 36, 185-196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannon, T.: 1994, 'Vulnerability Analysis and the Explanation of Natural Disasters, in Varley, A. (ed.), Disasters Development and Environment, John Wiley, Chichester, pp. 13-30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chongyin, L.: 1988, 'Actions of Typhoons over the Western Pacific (Including the South China Sea) and El Niño', Adv. Atmos. Sci. 5, 107-115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutter, S. L.: 1996, 'Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards', Prog. Human Geog. 20, 529-539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Downing, T. E.: 1991, 'Vulnerability to Hunger in Africa: A Climate Change Perspective', Global Environ. Change 1, 365-380.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewel, K. C., Twilley, R. R., and Ong, J. E.: 1998, 'Different Kinds of Mangrove Forests Provide Different Goods and Services', Global Ecol. and Biogeog. Lett. 7, 83-94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, C. D.: 1998, 'Rehabilitation of Mangrove Ecosystems: An Overview', Marine Pollution Bull. 37, 383-392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folke, C. and Kautsky, N.: 1992, 'Aquaculture with its Environment: Prospects for Sustainability', Ocean Coastal Manage. 17, 5-24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glantz, M. H.: 1991, 'The Use of Analogies in Forecasting Societal Responses to Global Warming', Environment 33, 10-15, 27-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt, K.: 1997, Regions of Risk: A Geographical Introduction to Disasters, Longman, Harlow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, P. and Thinh, N. V.: 1996, 'Implications of Economic Reform in Vietnam: Agrarian and Environmental Change in Hien Luong', Aust. Geog. 27, 165-183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houghton, J. T., Jenkins, G. J., and Ephraums, J. J. (eds.): 1990, Climate Change. The IPCC Scientific Assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Houghton, J. T., Meiro Filho, L. G., Callander, B. A., Harris, N., Kattenberg, A., and Maskell, K. (eds.): 1996, Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kates, R. W.: 2000, 'Cautionary Tales: Adaptation and the Global Poor', Clim. Change 45, 5-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, P. M.: 2000, 'Towards a Sustainable Response to Climate Change', in Huxham, M. and Sumner, D. (eds.), Science and Environmental Decision-Making, Pearson Education, Harlow, pp. 118-141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, P. M., Granich, S. L. V., and Secrett, C. M.: 1994, 'Global Warming: Responding to an Uncertain Future', Asia Pacific J. Environ. Develop. 1, 28-45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, P. M., Hoang Minh Hien, and Tran Viet Lien: 2001, 'Responding to El Niño and La Niña-Averting Tropical Cyclone Impacts', in Adger, W. N., Kelly, P.M., and Nguyen Huu Ninh (eds.), Living with Environmental Change: Social Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience in Vietnam, Routledge, London, in press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, R. J. T. and Nicholls, R. J.: 1999, 'Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Climate Change', Ambio 28, 182-187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knutson, T. R., Tuleya, R. E., and Kurihara, Y.: 1998, 'Simulated Increase of Hurricane Intensities in a CO2-Warmed Climate', Science 279, 1018-1020.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lander, M.: 1994, 'An Exploratory Analysis of the Relationship between Tropical Storm Formation in the Western North Pacific and ENSO', Mon. Wea. Rev. 122, 636-651.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, C.: 1987, 'A Study of the Influence of El Niño upon Typhoon Action over the Western Pacific', Acta Meteorologica Sinica 45, 229-236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lighthill, J., Holland, G. J., Gray, W. M., Landsea, C., Craig, G., Evans, J., Kuhihara, Y., and Guard, C. P.: 1994, 'Global Climate Change and Tropical Cyclones', Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc. 75, 2147-2157.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGregor, G. R.: 1994, 'The Tropical Cyclone Hazard over the South China Sea 1970-1989', Appl. Geog. 15, 35-52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa, S., Sugi, M., Motoi, T., and Yukimoto, S.: 1998, 'Climate Change Projections', in Nishioka, S. and Harasawa, H. (eds.), Global Warming: The Potential Impact on Japan, Springer, Tokyo, pp. 1-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naylor, R. and Drew, M.: 1998, 'Valuing Mangrove Resources in Kosrae, Micronesia', Environ. Develop. Econ. 3, 471-490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nishimori, M. and Yoshino, M.: 1990, 'The Relationship between ENSO Events and the Generation, Development and Movement of Typhoons', Geog. Rev. Japan 63A-8, 530-540 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Riordan, T. and Jordan, A.: 1999, 'Institutions, Climate Change and Cultural Theory: Towards a Common Framework', Global Environ. Change 9, 81-94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palutikof, J. P., Subak, S., and Agnew, M. D. (eds.): 1997, Economic Impacts of the Hot Summer and Unusually Warm Year of 1995, University of East Anglia, Norwich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reardon, T. and Taylor, J. E.: 1996, 'Agroclimatic Shocks, Income Inequality and Poverty: Evidence from Burkina Faso', World Develop. 24, 901-914.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribot, J. C., Magalhães, A. R., and Panagides, S. S. (eds.): 1996, Climate Variability, Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the Semi-Arid Tropics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, S.: 1994, 'Political-Economic Institutions', in Meyer, W. B. and Turner, B. L. (eds.), Changes in Land Use and Land Cover: A Global Perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 329-355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders, M. A., Chandler, R. E., Merchent, C. J., and Roberts, F. P.: 2000, 'Atlantic Hurricanes and NW Pacific Typhoons: ENSO Spatial Impacts on Occurrence and Landfall', Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 1147-1150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, S. H.: 1997, 'Integrated Assessment Modeling of Global Climate Change: Transparent Rational Tool for Policy Making or Opaque Screen Hiding Value-Laden Assumptions', Environ. Model. Assess. 2, 229-249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J. C.: 1976, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia, Yale University Press, New Haven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. K.: 1981, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, Clarendon, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. K.: 1990, 'Food, Economics and Entitlements', in Drèze, J. and Sen, A. K. (eds.), The Political Economy of Hunger, Volume 1, Clarendon, Oxford, pp. 34-50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smit, B., McNabb, D., and Smithers, J.: 1996, 'Agricultural Adaptation to Climatic Variations', Clim. Change 33, 7-29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. B., Bhatti, N., and Menzhulin, G. V. (eds.): 1996, Adapting to Climate Change: An International Perspective, Springer, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smithers, J. and Smit, B.: 1997, 'Human Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change', Global Environ. Change 7, 129-146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugi, M., Noda, A., and Sato, N.: 1996, 'Will the Number of Tropical Cyclones Be Reduced by Global Warming?-Implication from a Numerical Modelling Experiment with the JMA Global Model', Proceedings of the 1996 Spring Meeting of the Japanese Meteorological Society, p. 37 (in Japanese).

  • Tol, R. S. J., Fankhauser, S., and Smith, J. B.: 1998, 'The Scope for Adaptation to Climate Change: What Can We Learn from the Impacts Literature', Global Environ. Change 8, 109-123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tri, N. H., Adger, W. N., and Kelly, P. M.: 1998, 'Natural Resource Management in Mitigating Climate Impacts: Mangrove Restoration in Vietnam', Global Environ. Change 8, 49-61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vinh, T. T.: 1995, Tree Planting Measures to Protect Sea Dyke Systems in the Central Provinces of Vietnam, Paper presented at the Workshop on Mangrove Plantation for Sea Dyke Protection, Hatinh, Vietnam, 24-25 December 1995.

  • Walsh, K. and Pittock, A. B.: 1998, 'Potential Changes in Tropical Storms, Hurricanes, and Extreme Rainfall Events as a Result of Climate Change', Clim. Change 39, 199-213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, R. T., Zinyowera, M. C., and Moss, R. H. (eds.): 1996, 'Climate Change 1995', in Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific-Technical Analyses, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

  • Watts, M. J. and Bohle, H. G.: 1993, 'The Space of Vulnerability: The Causal Structure of Hunger and Famine', Prog. Human Geog. 17, 43-67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisner, B. G.: 1978, 'An Appeal for a Significantly Comparative Method in Disaster Research', Disasters 2, 80-82.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank: 1995, Vietnam Poverty Assessment and Strategy, Operations Division, World Bank East Asia and Pacific Region, Hanoi.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kelly, P.M., Adger, W.N. Theory and Practice in Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Change andFacilitating Adaptation. Climatic Change 47, 325–352 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005627828199

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005627828199

Keywords

Navigation