Climate change, vulnerability, and risk linkages
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
ISSN: 1756-8692
Article publication date: 1 March 2011
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to develop a model that may be used to determine the effective adaptive measures to implement in a system affected by climate change.
Design/methodology/approach
The three primary dimensions of the model were individually investigated and then the linkages among them were developed. Specifically, the nature of climate change was examined and the issues emerging from the changes were analyzed. Next, an intensive study of system vulnerabilities was conducted, and the third factor in the model, risk, is then explored. Afterwards, the conceptual framework, which is the foundation of the climate change vulnerability risk model, was devised and the model created.
Findings
The model is a three‐dimensional matrix with the nature of climate change, vulnerabilities, and risks as its chief dimensions. It identifies the four natures of climate change, namely: variability, intensity, frequency, and quantity and the vulnerability types to be socio‐economic, biophysical, technological, and institutional. Meanwhile, risks are classified as income, biodiversity, health, mortality, and infrastructure risks.
Research limitations/implications
The research is the first phase of a three‐stage study on the linkages among climate change, vulnerability, and risks. It is the development stage of the framework that exemplifies the interrelationships among these variables and is the basis of the statistical and econometric analyses in the later stages.
Originality/value
The climate change vulnerability risk model was developed to act as an analytical guide in understanding the effects of climate change to systems. The model may be used to determine the effective adaptive measures to apply in the system, through a comparative analysis of the variables in the matrix.
Keywords
Citation
Cuevas, S.C. (2011), "Climate change, vulnerability, and risk linkages", International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 29-60. https://doi.org/10.1108/17568691111107934
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited