Synonyms
Contingency index; Susceptibility index
Definition
A vulnerability index (VI) is a tool to magnify or measure the effects of any potential hazard (natural or human-induced environmental, social, or economic hazard/risk) where a population or region is exposed. The first formal VI was proposed by the Maltese Ambassador to the United Nations in 1990. The basics of a VI were described by researcher Lino Briguglio of the University of Malta. The index was formalized by the ratio between the quantitative components to the relative importance and the cumulative score of the weighted values (Sullivan, 2008).
Description
A VI can be generated to define vulnerability of coastal areas or ecosystems (e.g., estuaries, lagoons, coastal wetlands) to sea-level rise, climate change, floods, oil spills, erosion, etc. This phenomenon is called the coastal vulnerability index (CVI). Indicators selected from ecological, social, or economic components can be used to understand vulnerability of...
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Coastal Vulnerability Assessment of Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS) to Sea-Level Rise. USGS Open File Report 2004–1020, Washington, DC
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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Koroglu, A. (2016). Vulnerability Index. In: Kennish, M.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Estuaries. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_220
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_220
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