Abstract: This article uses a systemic perspective to identify and analyze the conceptual relations among vulnerability, resilience, and adaptive capacity within socio-ecological systems (SES). Since different intellectual traditions use the terms in different, sometimes incompatible, ways, they emerge as strongly related but unclear in the precise nature of their relationships. A set of diagnostic questions is proposed regarding the specification of the terms to develop a shared conceptual framework for the natural and social dimensions of global change. Also, development of a general theory of change in SESs is suggested as an important agenda item for research on global change.

Abstract: The location of and threats to biodiversity are distributed unevenly, so prioritization is essential to minimize biodiversity loss. To address this need, biodiversity conservation organizations have proposed nine templates of global priorities over the past decade. Here, we review the concepts, methods, results, impacts, and challenges of these prioritizations of conservation practice within the theoretical irreplaceability/vulnerability framework of systematic conservation planning. Most of the templates prioritize highly irreplaceable regions; some are reactive (prioritizing high vulnerability), and others are proactive (prioritizing low vulnerability). We hope this synthesis improves understanding of these prioritization approaches and that it results in more efficient allocation of geographically flexible conservation funding.

Abstract: Vulnerability is an emerging concept for climate science and policy. Over the past decade, efforts to assess vulnerability to climate change triggered a process of theory development and assessment practice, which is reflected in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This paper reviews the historical development of the conceptual ideas underpinning assessments of vulnerability to climate change. We distinguish climate impact assessment, first- and second-generation vulnerability assessment, and adaptation policy assessment. The different generations of assessments are described by means of a conceptual framework that defines key concepts of the assessment and their analytical relationships. The purpose of this conceptual framework is two-fold: first, to present a consistent visual glossary of the main concepts underlying the IPCC approach to vulnerability and its assessment; second, to show the evolution of vulnerability assessments. This evolution is characterized by the progressive inclusion of non-climatic determinants of vulnerability to climate change, including adaptive capacity, and the shift from estimating expected damages to attempting to reduce them. We hope that this paper improves the understanding of the main approaches to climate change vulnerability assessment and their evolution, not only within the climate change community but also among researchers from other scientific communities, who are sometimes puzzled by the unfamiliar use of technical terms in the context of climate change.

Abstract: The intimate connections between disaster recovery by and the resilience of affected communities have become common features of disaster risk reduction programmes since the adoption of The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015. Increasing attention is now paid to the capacity of disaster-affected communities to 'bounce back' or to recover with little or no external assistance following a disaster. This highlights the need for a change in the disaster risk reduction work culture, with stronger emphasis being put on resilience rather than just need or vulnerability. However, varied conceptualisations of resilience pose new philosophical challenges. Yet achieving a consensus on the concept remains a test for disaster research and scholarship. This paper reviews the concept in terms of definitional issues, the role of vulnerability in resilience discourse and its meaning, and the differences between vulnerability and resilience. It concludes with some of the more immediately apparent implications of resilience thinking for the way we view and prepare for disasters.

Abstract: “Climate change adaptation”, “building resilience” and “vulnerability and risk reduction” are noble words, but do we really know what is meant by these terms and how to assess their respective progress? This book seeks to address these questions. The world has recently experienced disasters of a magnitude rarely seen before: the cascading disaster in Japan, the earthquake in Haiti, and floods in Pakistan and Australia are a few prominent examples. These major disasters underline the fact that many communities and world regions are still vulnerable to extreme events and natural hazards. Additionally, creeping changes, such as sea level rise, are emerging pressures in the context of climate change. These changes are very likely to seriously affect livelihoods in many regions. The dynamic and complex interaction between vulnerable communities, and climate- and non-climate-related, sudden-onset and creeping hazards will most likely increase the risk of crises and disasters in the future. Following the popularity of the first edition, this volume has been completely revised and fully updated. This new edition includes the dimension of adaptation to climate change and new risks resulting from climate change. It combines practical examples from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe with theoretical and conceptual frameworks. It is key reading for all those interested in improving risk reduction and adaptation strategies to extreme events and gradual changes in the context of climate change and natural hazards.

Abstract: ▪ Abstract In this review, we highlight new insights into the conceptualization of the vulnerability of social-environmental systems and identify critical points of convergence of what otherwise might be characterized as disparate fields of research. We argue that a diversity of approaches to studying vulnerability is necessary in order to address the full complexity of the concept and that the approaches are in large part complementary. An emerging consensus on the issues of critical importance to vulnerability reduction—including concerns of equity and social justice—and growing synergy among conceptual frameworks promise even greater relevancy and utility for decision makers in the near future. We synthesize the current literature with an outline of core assessment components and key questions to guide the trajectory of future research.

Abstract: This article presents a conceptual model to investigate population migration as a possible adaptive response to risks associated with climate change. The model reflects established theories of human migration behaviour, and is based upon the concepts of vulnerability, exposure to risk and adaptive capacity, as developed in the climate change research community. The application of the model is illustrated using the case of 1930s migration patterns in rural Eastern Oklahoma, which took place during a period of repeated crop failures due to drought and flooding.

Abstract: Historically, vendors have used their own methods for scoring software vulnerabilities, usually without detailing their criteria or processes. This creates a major problem for users, particularly those who manage disparate IT systems and applications. The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) is a public initiative designed to address this issue by presenting a framework for assessing and quantifying the impact of software vulnerabilities. Organizations currently generating CVSS scores include Cisco, US National Institute of Standards and Technology (through the US National Vulnerability Database; NVD), Qualys, Oracle, and Tenable Network Security. CVSS offers the following benefits: 1) standardized vulnerability scores, 2) contextual scoring and 3) open framework. The goal is for CVSS to facilitate the generation of consistent scores that accurately represent the impact of vulnerabilities

Abstract: Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities—disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, environmental management and poverty reduction—have been actively engaged in reducing socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards. However, despite the significant efforts of these communities, the vulnerability of many individuals and communities to natural hazards continues to increase considerably. In particular, it is hydrometeorological hazards that affect an increasing number of people and cause increasingly large economic losses. Arising from the realisation that these four communities have been largely working in isolation and enjoyed only limited success in reducing vulnerability, there is an emerging perceived need to strengthen significantly collaboration and to facilitate learning and information exchange between them. This article examines key communalities and differences between the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction communities, and proposes three exercises that would help to structure a multi-community dialogue and learning process.

Abstract: The reliability and vulnerability of critical infrastructures have attracted a lot of attention recently. In order to assess these issues quantitatively, operational measures are needed. Such measures can also be used as guidance to road administrations in their prioritisation of maintenance and repair of roads, as well as for avoiding causing unnecessary disturbances in the planning of roadwork. The concepts of link importance and site exposure are introduced. In this paper, several link importance indices and site exposure indices are derived, based on the increase in generalised travel cost when links are closed. These measures are divided into two groups: one reflecting an “equal opportunities perspective”, and the other a “social efficiency perspective”. The measures are calculated for the road network of northern Sweden. Results are collected in a GIS for visualisation, and are presented per link and municipality. In view of the recent great interest in complex networks, some topological measures of the road network are also presented.

Abstract: This study used three focus groups to explore factors that affect the experiences of youth (ages 15 to 21) who identify as transgender. The focus groups were designed to probe transgender youths' experiences of vulnerability in the areas of health and mental health. This involved their exposure to risks, discrimination, marginalization, and their access to supportive resources. Three themes emerged from an analysis of the groups' conversations. The themes centered on gender identity and gender presentation, sexuality and sexual orientation, and vulnerability and health issues. Most youth reported feeling they were transgender at puberty, and they experienced negative reactions to their gender atypical behaviors, as well as confusion between their gender identity and sexual orientation. Youth noted four problems related to their vulnerability in health-related areas: the lack of safe environments, poor access to physical health services, inadequate resources to address their mental health concerns, and a lack of continuity of caregiving by their families and communities.

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a bibliometric analysis of the knowledge domains resilience, vulnerability and adaptation within the research activities on human dimensions of global environmental change. We analyzed how 2286 publications between 1967 and 2005 are related in terms of co-authorship relations, and citation relations. The number of publications in the three knowledge domains increased rapidly between 1995 and 2005. However, the resilience knowledge domain is only weakly connected with the other two domains in terms of co-authorships and citations. The resilience knowledge domain has a background in ecology and mathematics with a focus on theoretical models, while the vulnerability and adaptation knowledge domains have a background in geography and natural hazards research with a focus on case studies and climate change research. There is an increasing number of cross citations and papers classified in multiple knowledge domains. This seems to indicate an increasing integration of the different knowledge domains. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract: An important goal of vulnerability assessment is to create an index of overall vulnerability from a suite of indicators. Constructing a vulnerability index raises several problems in the aggregation of these indicators, including the decision of assigning weights to them. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a method of aggregating vulnerability indicators that results in a composite index of vulnerability, but that avoids the problems associated with assigning weights. The investigators apply a technique based on Pareto ranking to a complex, developed socioeconomic landscape exposed to storm surges associated with hurricanes. Indicators of social vulnerability to this hazard are developed and a principal components analysis is performed on proxies for these indicators. Overall social vulnerability is calculated by applying Pareto ranking to these principal components. The paper concludes that it is possible to construct an effective index of vulnerability without weighting the individual vulnerability indicators.

Abstract: Executive Summary The world's climate is continuing to change at rates that are projected to be unprecedented in recent human history. Some models are now indicating that the temperature increases to 2100 may be larger than previously estimated in 2001. The impacts of climate change are likely to be considerable in tropical regions. Developing countries are generally considered more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than more developed countries, largely attributed to a low capacity to adapt in the developing world. Of the developing countries, many in Africa are seen as being the most vulnerable to climate variability and change. High levels of vulnerability and low adaptive capacity in the developing world have been linked to factors such as a high reliance on natural resources, limited ability to adapt financially and institutionally, low per capita GDP and high poverty, and a lack of safety nets. The challenges for development are considerable, not least because the impacts are complex and highly uncertain. The overall aims of DFID's new research programme on climate change and development in sub-Saharan Africa are to improve the ability of poor people to be more resilient to current climate variability as well as to the risks associated with longer-term climate change. The programme is designed to address the knowledge implications of interacting and multiple stresses, such as HIV/AIDS and climate change, on the vulnerability of the poor, and it will concentrate on approaches that work where government structures are weak. To help identify where to locate specific research activities and where to put in place uptake pathways for research outputs, information is required that relates projected climate change with vulnerability data. ILRI undertook some exploratory vulnerability mapping for the continent in late 2005 and early 2006, building on some livestock poverty mapping work carried out in 2002. The work described here is a small piece of a larger activity that involved the commissioning of several studies on climate change and the identification of the critical researchable issues related to development. A project inception meeting was held with research collaborators, to discuss analytical approaches and assess data availability. Over the succeeding few months, data were assembled and analysis undertaken. This involved the downscaling of outputs from several coupled Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models (GCMs) for four different scenarios of the future, and possible changes in lengths of the growing period were estimated for Africa to 2050 for several …

Abstract: Climate change, although a natural phenomenon, is accelerated by human activities. Disaster policy response to climate change is dependent on a number of factors, such as readiness to accept the reality of climate change, institutions and capacity, as well as willingness to embed climate change risk assessment and management in development strategies. These conditions do not yet exist universally. A focus that neglects to enhance capacity-building and resilience as a prerequisite for managing climate change risks will, in all likelihood, do little to reduce vulnerability to those risks. Reducing vulnerability is a key aspect of reducing climate change risk. To do so requires a new approach to climate change risk and a change in institutional structures and relationships. A focus on development that neglects to enhance governance and resilience as a prerequisite for managing climate change risks will, in all likelihood, do little to reduce vulnerability to those risks.

Abstract: To be effective, early warning systems for natural hazards need to have not only a sound scientific and technical basis, but also a strong focus on the people exposed to risk, and with a systems approach that incorporates all of the relevant factors in that risk, whether arising from the natural hazards or social vulnerabilities, and from short-term or long-term processes. Disasters are increasing in number and severity and international institutional frameworks to reduce disasters are being strengthened under United Nations oversight. Since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, there has been a surge of interest in developing early warning systems to cater to the needs of all countries and all hazards.

Abstract: The social vulnerability of the American population is not evenly distributed among social groups or between places. Some regions may be more susceptible to the impacts of hazards than other places based on the characteristics of the people residing within them. As we saw with Hurricane Katrina, when coupled with residencies in high-risk areas such as the hurricane coasts, differential vulnerabilities can lead to catastrophic results. The geographic discrepancies in social vulnerability also necessitate different mitigation, post-response, and recovery actions. Given temporal and spatial changes in social vulnerability in the future, a one-size-fits-all approach to preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation may be the least effective in reducing vulnerability or improving local resilience to hazards.

Abstract: Thomas J. Dishion and Elizabeth A. Stormshak describe their family-centered, ecological approach, which engages children, adolescents, and their families; may be used as a periodic preventive checkup and as a more intensive intervention; and may be delivered in community settings such as schools in order to have the greatest public health impact. The authors demonstrate how they examine psychopathology in children and adolescents in the context of the ecology (families, peer groups, communities, and schools) in which they live. They present their empirically derived approach and illustrate how developmentally and culturally relevant interventions are shaped. An ecological approach works within a health maintenance teamwork. Given individual variation in vulnerability to environmental stress, periodic assessments and interventions are used to prevent, treat, or reduce harm associated with problem behavior and emotional distress. The literature reveals promising findings, in that the highest-risk youth are more likely to respond well to ecologically based interventions.

Abstract: The concepts resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation are increasingly important for the study of the human dimensions of global environmental change. Events during the last 2 years, such as the hurricane Katrina, the Southeast Asian tsunami, and the Pakistan earthquake, together with the bird flu and continuing droughts in Africa, dramatically illustrate the potential vulnerability of human society to disturbances and variability. The concepts of resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation are used to analyze these and similar events. While these concepts are becoming more important within the global change research community, they do have diverse and somewhat separate intellectual histories. In organizing this special issue, we initially experienced a Tower of Babel in hearing the diverse definitions made of core concepts. The diversity is largely explained by the distinct communities from which the concepts originate. As editors of this special issue, we have not aimed to impose a uniform language, but recognize the diversity of ways in which the terms and concepts are used. By bringing together the various insights on resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation, we hope to provide a comprehensive overview of diverse approaches. A typical example of the linguistic confusion is the use of socio-ecological systems (Gallopı́n et al., 1989), social–ecological systems (Berkes and Folke, 1998), and coupled human–environment systems (Turner et al., 2003). Although there may be some minor differences in the meanings of these terms, all emphasize the importance of including both social and ecological systems as well as their mutual interactions when studying their dynamics. To understand the various concepts of resilience, vulnerability, and adaptation, it is important to know their intellectual histories, which is one of the goals of this issue. By understanding the origin and history of a term, linguistic confusion should slowly be reduced as the different scholarly communities begin to collaborate more and more. We hope this issue stimulates further collaboration among scholars from these diverse traditions. Resilience is a core concept used by ecologists in their analysis of population ecology of plants and animals and in

Abstract: The crisis management literature has not dealt in depth with small business response to disasters. This study takes a qualitative approach to consider how small businesses respond to and recover from a large disaster, by interviewing stakeholders in five different communities in the Gulf Coast of the United States. Events that are considered to be crises in nature are usually characterized by high consequence, low probability, ambiguity, and decision making time pressure. Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath caused small business owners in the U.S. Gulf region to experience each of these. Findings include lack of planning by small business; vulnerability to cash flow interruption; lack of access to capital for recovery; problems caused by federal assistance; and serious infrastructure problems impeding recovery.

Abstract: Part I: Old, New, and Familiar Hazards * The Changing Landscape of Fear * Chemical Hazards in Urban America * Fleeing from Harm: International Trends in Evacuations from Chemical Accidents * Ecocide in Babylonia * The Forgotten Casualties: Women, Children and Environmental Change * Part II: Vulnerability to Threats * Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards * Revealing the Vulnerability of People and Places: A Case Study of Georgetown County, South Carolina * Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards * The Science of Vulnerability and the Vulnerability of Science * Part III: Societal Responses to Threats * Societal Responses to Environmental Hazards * Risk Cognition and the Public: The Case of Three Mile Island * En-gendered Fears: Femininity and Technological Risk Perception * Evacuation Behaviour and Three Mile Island * Crying Wolf: Repeat Responses to Hurricane Evacuation Orders * Public Orders and Personal Opinions: Household Strategies for Hurricane Risk Assessment * Part IV: Environmental Justice * Race, Class and Environmental Justice * Issues in Environmental Justice Research * The Role of Geographic Scale in Monitoring Environmental Justice * Setting Environmental Justice in Space and Place: Acute and Chronic Airborne Toxic Releases in the Southeastern United States * Using Relative Risk Indicators to Disclose Toxic Hazard Information to Communities * Dumping in Dixie Revisited: The Evolution of Environmental Injustices in South Carolina * Part V: From Theory to Practice * Emergency Preparedness and Planning for Nuclear Power Plant Accidents * Airborne Toxic Releases: Are Communities Prepared? * Geographers and Nuclear War: Why We Lack Influence on Public Policy * Emerging Hurricane Evacuation Issues: Hurricane Floyd and South Carolina * GIScience, Disasters and Emergency Management

Abstract: This paper describes the development of a method for strategic assessment of vulnerability in road networks. Our vulnerability analysis considers the socio-economic impacts of network degradation, on the basis of changes in the levels of accessibility provided by the degraded network. A number of standard indices of accessibility are considered, including generalised travel cost, the Hansen integral accessibility index, and the ARIA index used in Australia to assess levels of remoteness in rural areas. Simple case studies of a national strategic road network and a regional road network are used to illustrate both the general approach and specific implementations.

Abstract: Supply chain vulnerability has become a fashionable area of management research. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critique of the extant canon and to review of the positioning of research in the field, together with literature drawn from several relevant and overlapping fields of research and practice. The aim is to foster a more explicit understanding of the relationships between supply chain vulnerability, risk and supply chain management, and in turn their relevance to related fields such as corporate governance, business continuity management, security and emergency planning. The ultimate objective is to clarify the agenda for further research. The paper begins with an examination of the concept of a “supply chain” and the scope and nature of supply chain management (SCM), then the fusion of SCM with the many and varied interpretations of “risk” and its faltering relationship to risk management. It is argued that attitudes to risk and approaches to risk management vary greatly within SCM and ...

Abstract: Evaluation studies routinely find that lending to women benefits their households, they are however vastly divergent in their conclusions regarding its empowering potential. This paper investigates this paradoxical suggestion by examining a case study. Survey data from two drought prone villages in rural India shows that while lending to women has helped households reduce their vulnerability, the results on empowerment are less emphatic. On examining a combination of loan-related data and borrower-testimonies we find that high demand for credit for use on family farm/business combined with women's lack of co-ownership of family's productive assets may result in this perverse effect. If women's empowerment is a crucial objective then the patriarchal hold on productive assets must be challenged.

Abstract: METHODS AND RESULTS: In this article we review experiences from two projects that have taken a community-based dialogue approach to identifying and assessing the effects of and vulnerability to climate change and the impact on the health in two Inuit regions of the Canadian Arctic. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the two case projects that we present argue for a multi-stakeholder, participatory framework for assessment that supports the necessary analysis, understanding, and enhancement of capabilities of local areas to respond and adapt to the health impacts at the local level.