Assessing vulnerability: an integrated approach for mapping adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and exposure

Making decisions and efficiently allocating resources to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities requires, among other things, an understanding of the factors that make a society vulnerable to climate and coastal hazards. One way of doing this is through the analysis of spatial data. We demonstrate how to apply GIS methods to spatially represent socioeconomic vulnerability in Grenada, a tropical small island developing state (SIDS) in the Eastern Caribbean. Our model combines spatial features representing variables of social sensitivity, community adaptive capacity, and community exposure to flooding in an integrated vulnerability index. We draw from the fields of climate change adaptation, disaster management, and poverty and development to select our variables enabling unique, cross sector, applications of our assessment. Mapping our results illustrates that vulnerability to flooding is not evenly distributed across the country and is not driven by the same factors in all areas of Grenada. This indicates a need for the implementation of different strategies in communities across Grenada to help effectively reduce vulnerability to climate and coastal hazards. The approach presented in this paper can be used to address national issues on climate change adaptation, disaster management, and poverty and development and more effectively utilize funds in order to reduce community vulnerability to natural hazards today and in the future.