CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Dolan, A.H.; and Walker, I.J.
Date : 2006.
Title : Understanding vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change related risks.
Publication : Journal of Coastal Research
Issue : Special Issue 39:
Page(s) : 1317-1324.
Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of vulnerability as characterized in the climate change literature and presents a framework for assessing adaptive capacity. The framework recognizes inherent susceptibilities of human environment systems exposed to climate variability and change. As climate change impacts are unevenly distributed among and within nations, regions, communities and individuals due to differential exposures and vulnerabilities, the framework highlights determinants of adaptive capacity at the local scale and situates them within larger regional, national and international settings. Determinants include: access and distribution of resources, technology, information and wealth; risk perceptions; social capital and community structure; and institutional frameworks that address climate change hazards. This broader approach contrasts typical impact assessments that focus largely on reducing economic detriments of change. The framework provides a methodological starting point that, as a community-based or 'bottom-up' approach, yields important insight on local responses to climate change. It also recognizes that short-term exposure to variability is an important source of vulnerability superimposed on long-term change. At the community level, perceptions and experiences with climate extremes can identify inherent characteristics that enable or constrain a community to respond, recover and adapt. As such, local and traditional knowledge is key to climate change research and should be incorporated into research design and implementation. This approach provides locally relevant outcomes that could promote more effective decision-making, planning and management in remote areas susceptible to climate change hazards. As part of a larger study, this approach will be refined with local input to study sea-level rise impacts on one of Canada's most sensitive coastlines, northeast Graham Island, Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia. Preliminary evidence of changes and responses in this area are identified as a brief case study.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology