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Approaches to vulnerability assessment

This articles provides examples of vulnerability assessment from multiple projects.
Multiple Authors
Sunandan Tiwari

Various examples of methods of vulnerability assessment are given in the documents below. Most are participatory in nature and arise from the practitioner community and for that reason tend to focus more on hazards and disasters. The BRAVA Rapid Assessment was developed in an EU funded project on water, with more of a focus on the dynamics of vulnerability and how such assessments are used for decision-making.

Baseline Rapid Assessment of Vulnerability for Adaptation (BRAVA): Prepared for the Newater project, this document outlines a method for rapid vulnerability assessment and case studies of its use in different catchments around Europe.

How to conduct a food security assessment. A step- by-step guide for National Societies in Africa. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2nd edition, 2006.

Climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning for mangrove systems.

In 2009, with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Hewlett-Packard Company, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) launched a project to understand and promote mangrove resilience to climate change. WWF offices in Cameroon, Tanzania and Fiji worked closely with various partners, including government agencies, communities and research institutions, to understand how climate change is likely to affect mangrove ecosystems and to pilot a set of adaptation actions that can reduce vulnerability to those impacts.

Social vulnerability, sustainable livelihoods and disasters. Report to DFID Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Department and Sustainable Livelihoods Support Office. Terry Cannon, John Twigg and Jennifer Rowell. (This includes reviews of four approaches, CVA, VCA (IFRCRC), Oxfam Risk mapping and Local Capacities and CARE Household Livelihood Security Assessment.)

Action Aid Participatory Vulnerability Analysis – a guide for field workers.

International Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification: Technical Manual Version 1. May 2006. Food Security Analysis Unit- Somalia.

Working with women at risk. Practical guidelines for assessing local disaster risk. Elaine Enarson with others. international Hurricane Center, Florida International University, June 2003.

Participatory Capacities and vulnerability assessment: Finding the link between disasters and development. Oxfam Great Britain- Philippines Programme, 2002.

Reducing risk of disaster in our communities. Paul Venton and Bob Hansford. Tearfund, 2006.

The role of local level institutions in reducing vulnerability to natural disasters and in sustainable livelihood development. This FAO web page has links to case studies in Mozambique, South Africa, Vietnam and China.

The book Climate Change and Vulnerability is freely available to read as a Google Book, and brings together many case studies on vulnerability to climate change in different sectors and locations. These case studies formed part of the AIACC project, and individual reports can be found here.

Academic papers:

Creating an index of social vulnerability to climate change for Africa, Katharine Vincent. August 2004, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Working Paper.

Thornton, P.K. et al, 2006. Mapping climate vulnerability and poverty in Africa, Report to the DfID. ILRI, Nairobi, Kenya, Pp. 171.

Livelihood Systems Profiling: mixed methods for the analysis of poverty and vulnerability. Fabio Pittaluga, FAO Fisheries Department, Nicola Salvati and Chiara Seghieri, University of Florence.

Constructing Vulnerability -The historical, natural and social generation of flooding in metropolitan Manila. Disasters 27 (3) pg. 224-238

Assessing vulnerability to agricultural drought: A Nebraska case study. Natural Hazards Volume 25, Number 1, 37-58

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