Vulnerability to climate change is in part determined by exposure to specific changes – proximity to low lying coastal areas or areas of likely drought – but state capacity also plays a major role. And interventions targeting either must reflect the complex links that bind the two, says International Alert’s Janani Vivekananda in an interview with adelphi’s Environment, Conflict, and Cooperation platform.
Vivekananda describes climate vulnerability as the combination of a country’s exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. While the first two “are in the hands of luck,” adaptive capacity is closely tied to governance and stability. Both can be in short supply in weak or fragile countries, creating an “inexorable link between climate change and security,” she says. “If we’re trying to understand how to address the issue we need to understand these linkages.”
Vivekananda describes climate vulnerability as the combination of a country’s exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. While the first two “are in the hands of luck,” adaptive capacity is closely tied to governance and stability. Both can be in short supply in weak or fragile countries, creating an “inexorable link between climate change and security,” she says. “If we’re trying to understand how to address the issue we need to understand these linkages.”
