The vulnerability of developing countries to potential impacts of climate change and the options for adaptation are rapidly emerging as central issues in the debate around policy responses to climate change. In order to prioritize, design and implement interventions to adapt to climate change, it is essential to adopt a coherent and consistent set of definitions and frameworks for examining vulnerability, adaptation and adaptive capacity. In practice, a variety of definitions of vulnerability and adaptation are found in the literature. This paper uses the base of literature from the context of the coastal impacts of climate change to draw some explicit linkages between the objectives of vulnerability and adaptation assessment and the definitions used in the analysis. We find that such a linkage is helpful for identifying the nature of assessment required, and the data and information necessary. The paper concludes with some thoughts regarding directions for research with regard to vulnerability and adaptation assessment.
Patwardhan, A
Assessing vulnerability to climate change: The link between objectives and assessment
Current Science