Summary
This chapter presents a summary of the preliminary results on vulnerability and adaptations assessments in the forest and coastal resources sectors of Venezuela. The Holdridge Life Zone Classification Model was used, and the entire country of Venezuela was selected as study site. The results of the vulnerability assessment show very clearly that, in Venezuela, vegetation will suffer from drier climate patterns. Adaptation strategies in Venezuela to reduce possible forest damage from climate change are being analyzed for forest plantations and for the natural reserve forests based on the life zones identified by the Holdridge model. The IPCC common methodology for assessing the vulnerability of coastal areas to sea level rise proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was used to study five Venezuelan areas. The most vulnerable areas for both erosion and flooding are the eastern coast of Maracaibo Lake, the Barlovento region, and the eastern coast of Falcon State. Under a 0.5 m sea level rise scenario, the total land lost by erosion would be 32.91 km2, and under a 1.0 m sea level rise scenario, total land lost would be 47.00 km2. Land lost from flooding would be 52.63 km2 and 77.74 km2 respectively.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
BCV. 1994. Informe Banco Central de Venezuela. Caracas, 145 pp.
Benioff, R., S. Guill, and J. Lee (eds.) (In press). Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments: An International Guidebook. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
COPLANARH. 1970. Inventario de Suelos y Tierra. Ministerio de Obras Pûblicas. Caracas. Venezuela.
FAV. 1994. Anuarios de Informaciôn y Estadistica. Fuerza Aérea. Fuerzas Armadas Venezolanas. Venezuela, 125 pp.
Hands, E.B. 1983. Handbook of Coastal Processes and Erosion. Boca Raton, FL, USA: C.R.C. Press, 167 pp.
Holdridge, L.R. 1967. Life Zone Ecology. Tropical Science Center, San Jose, Costa Rica.
IPCC. 1990. Strategies for Adaptation to Sea Level Rise. Report of the Coastal Zone Management Subgroup. IPCC Working Group III, Rijkswaterstaat, The Netherlands: Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, 122 pp.
IPCC. 1992. Global Climate Change and the Rising Challenge. Report of the IPCC Coastal Zone Management Subgroup. Working Group III, Rijkswaterstaat, The Netherlands: Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, 123 pp.
Leatherman, S.P., R.J. Nicholls, and K. C. Dennis. 1994. Aerial Videotape-Assisted Vulnerability Analysis: A Cost-Effective Approach to Assess Sea Level Rise. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, 14: 15 – 25.
Leemans, R. and W. Cramer. 1990. The IIASA Climate Database for Land Area on a Grid of 0.5 Resolution, WP-41, International Institute for Applied System Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria.
MARAVEN. 1995. Gerencia de Diques y Drenaje. Personal Communication. Lagunillas. Estado Zulia.
MARNR. 1994. Anuarios de Informaciôn y Estadistica. Ministerio del Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales Renovables. Caracas, Venezuela, 234 pp.
Nicholls, R.J. and S.P. Leatherman. 1994. Sea Level Rise and Coastal Management. In: Mc Gregor, D. and D. Thompson (ed.), Geomorphology and Land Management in a Changing Environment, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
OCEI. 1990. Oficina Central de Estadisticas e Informaciôn. Anuarios. no. 2. Caracas, Venezuela: OCEI.
OCEI. 1991. Oficina Central de Estadisticas e Informaciôn. Tiempo de Resultados no. 1. Caracas, Venezuela: OCEI.
Pepper et al. 1992. Emission Scenarios for the IPCC: An Update: Assumptions, Methodology, and Results. Prepared for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group 1, May.
Roa-Morales, P. 1991. Coastal Morphology and Sea Level Rise Consequences in Venezuela. International Sea Level Rise Studies Project Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences Rutgers. New Brunswick, The State University of New Jersey, 24 pp.
Smith, A. and H. Quan Chu. 1994. A Multi-Criteria Approach for Assessing Strategies for Anticipatory Adaptation to Climate Change. Washington, DC: Decision Focus, Inc.
Thornthwaite, C.W. 1948. An Approach Toward a Rational Classification of Climate. Geogr. Review, 38: 55 – 89
Volonté, C. and J. Arismendi. 1995. Sea Level Rise and Venezuela: Potential Impacts and Responses. Journal of Coastal Research, 14: 285 – 302.
Walter, H. 1985. Vegetation of the Earth and Ecological Systems of the Geo-Biosphere, 3d ed., Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Perdomo, M., de Lourdes Olivo, M., Bonduki, Y., Mata, L.J. (1996). Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments for Venezuela. In: Smith, J.B., Huq, S., Lenhart, S., Mata, L.J., Nemešová, I., Toure, S. (eds) Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change. Environmental Science and Technology Library, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3653-4_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3653-4_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4726-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-3653-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive