Vulnerability assessments as a tool for the coastal and marine hazards management: An overview

In response to a high number of manuscripts on the general topic of Coastal Hazards, Vulnerability and Risk Assessments, and the exponential growth in related papers in the literature, the Ocean & Coastal Management Journal proposed to produce a set of related articles in an virtual special issue on “Vulnerability Assessments as a Tool for the Coastal and Marine Hazards Management”. This collection of 32 articles provides a focal point for such related current studies and, in part, seeks a commonality in nomenclature and application, particularly in regard to coastal management. Hazards occur in all coastal environments of the world and, over the past decades, have caused significant economic and social losses, ecosystems damage, and scores of deaths. However, it is essential to highlight that most of the coastal hazards are normal processes, and these processes only become a problem when there is no room to accommodate resulting changes. (An example of coastal erosion hazard in Florianopolis, Brazil). [Display omitted]