Abstracts
SEARCH Open Science Meeting
October 27, 2003
Seattle, Washington, USA
Analyzing the Implications of Climate Change Risks for Human Communities in the Arctic: A Vulnerability Based Approach
James D. Ford1, Barry Smit2
1Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada, Phone 519-827-0261, Fax 519-837-2940, jford01@uoguleph.ca
2Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada, bsmit@uogeulph.ca
In the Arctic, climate change and its effects are expected to be felt early and most keenly. Important changes in key climatic parameters are already evident and climate models indicate that greater changes are forthcoming. As a consequence, climatic risks including geophysical hazards, alteration in marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and increased unpredictability of environmental conditions, are expected to increase in frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution.
It is not, however, the impacts of climate change per se that are problematic for human communities. Communities can cope with climatic risks to a certain extent. The key issue is that of vulnerability. Vulnerability concerns the susceptibility for harm in a system relative to a stimulus, and recognizes that the implications of climate change for communities depend not only on the impacts of climate change but also the ability to cope. In doing so, it helps us understand those circumstances that put people and places at risk and conditions that reduce the ability of people and places to respond. This paper outlines how a vulnerability based approach can be used to analyze the implications of climate change for human communities.
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