Vulnerability and Climate Change
Communities that are the least prepared or able to cope with a natural disaster will be hurt worst by it. Oxfam America and the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina have launched a new project highlighting the intersection of social vulnerability and climate change across 13 southeastern US states.
The harsh realities of climate change and their subsequent impacts on communities, cities, states, and entire regions means that more frequent and severe hazards associated with climate change, such as drought, flooding, hurricane force winds, and sea level rise, threaten to unravel decades of sustainable, equitable development if we choose to do nothing.
Our goal for this project is to bring a fuller understanding of this issue to the public through a multidisciplinary examination of risks, hazards, and disaster.
Historically, studies about climate hazards and social vulnerability have been conducted in separate silos. The Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) is the first study of its kind to examine both the potential impact of natural hazards and which populations are most likely to be negatively affected by them. The application of SoVI to climate change-related hazards was developed by Dr. Susan Cutter and Dr. Christopher Emrich at the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute at the University of South Carolina. The SoVI statistically examines the underlying social and demographic characteristics of the population and how they negatively impact certain segments with regard to climate change-related hazards.
A screen capture from the Web site.
This research, commissioned by Oxfam America, includes a series of layered maps that depict social and climate change-related hazard vulnerability. The maps assist in identifying hotspots in the Southeastern United States that are at significant risk in the face of four particular climate change-related hazards: drought, flooding, hurricane-force winds, and sea level rise. The specific region of focus is the 13-state area encompassing Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
We recognize that both demographic variables and climate models are undergoing continuous improvement. As such, our goal is to demonstrate with rigorous data and analysis the potential impacts of climate change related hazards on socially vulnerable populations, not to present an exact valuation of vulnerability or exposure. We encourage more research on the intersection between social conditions and hazards, so that our adaptation responses will not only protect people from harm, but will address the underlying causes of vulnerability.
