Showing papers on "Vulnerability index published in 2000"

Development of a coastal vulnerability index: a geomorphological perspective

Abstract: Sustainable coastal resource management requires the safeguarding and transmission to future generations of a level and quality of natural resources that will provide an ongoing yield of economic and environmental services. All maritime nations are approaching this goal with different issues in mind. The UK, which has a long history of development and flood protection in coastal areas, has chosen to adopt shoreline management, rather than coastal management, so placing coastal defence above all else as its primary and statutory objective. This paper aims to provide a geomorphological perspective of long-term coastal evolution and seeks to compare the UK approach with wider interpretations of coastal management. Based on a literature review, it is argued that coastal management (CM) and shoreline management, as a subset of CM, should share the same ultimate objectives, which are defined by many authorities as sustainable use. The objectives, both strategic and pragmatic, which follow from such an aim may appear to conflict with a reading of many of the texts for international and national CM or designated area management which emphasizes stability rather than sustainability. The result is that coastal defence is seen not merely as a means to an end but as an end in itself. It is argued within this paper that sustainable use of the coast, however, demands both spatial and temporal flexibility of its component systems, and management for change must therefore be the primary objective. Response of the natural system to independent forcing factors must be encouraged under this objective, whether such forces are natural or anthropogenic. In achieving such an objective the concept of shoreline vulnerability may prove useful. A simple and preliminary Vulnerability Index is proposed, relating disturbance event frequency to relaxation time (the time taken for the coastal feature to recover its form). This index provides a first order approximation of the temporal variability that may be expected in landform components of the shoreline system, so allowing management to provide more realistic objectives for long-term sustainability in response to both natural and artificial forces.

A Commonwealth vulnerability index for developing countries The position of small states

Abstract: There is growing international recognition that high economic exposure, remoteness, isolation and proneness to natural disasters all have a debilitating effect on small economies, despite the fact that some of them exhibit relatively high per capita incomes. This paper presents a Commonwealth vulnerability index that is designed to quantify vulnerability, and hence provide a means to identify vulnerable states. This index can be used as an operational tool in determining whether small states should be accorded differential treatment by the international community. It is intended as an additional criterion to augment other factors, such as per capita income, which are taken into account in reaching decisions on the treatment of certain developing countries by international organisations.

Plant diversity as a suitable tool for coastal dune vulnerability assessment.

Abstract: The investigation reported here is concerned with the use of plant diversity measures for coastal dune monitoring. The original set of recorded plant species on dune systems was broken into 3 functionally homogeneous groups, which allow ecological comparisons among foredune vegetation on a much wider sense than traditional taxonomic approaches. Plant diversity was measured both, as species richness and as the rate of species number increase with area. Plant diversity values were tested as a dependent variable of a coastal dune vulnerability Index. Increasing coastal dunes vulnerability, caused by natural or human events, lowered the rate of species increase with area within the plant functional type associated to prograding foredunes. Results suggest that plant diversity within this functional type, measured as the slope of the species-area curve, may be used as a management tool for predicting coastal dune vulnerability.

The challenge of hypothermia : a six-proposition manifesto for small Island territories

Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests that small, often island, states are more likely than larger nations to be hard hit by the effects of national disasters, of fluctuations in the global economy, and the political aspirations of world powers. The structural weaknesses they share have been quantified to create a Vulnerability Index. This paper points to what the author sees as flaws in the concept of vulnerability and its application to the weaknesses of small states. In particular he presents evidence that small developing countries have performed no worse than larger countries. He sets out six propositions which explain this paradox and identifies the comparative advantages that small states hold.

Internet Availability of the Vulnerability Database

Abstract: The availability of the National Seismic Vulnerability Database in Internet is the central topic of this paper. From the different formats adopted for the vulnerability forms in different successive structural campaigns, the data were homogenised and the resulting database was made available to restricted access. The use of these data is able to supply a preliminary answer to most of the questions a building hit once a seismic event occurs.