Vulnerability Indicators of Adaptation to Climate Change and Policy Implications for Investment Projects

Relevant and appropriate indicators for vulnerability at both the local levels are significant for effective adaptation to climate change. The paper reviews the literature of these indicators, and explores this issue using a selected sample of development projects from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to assess the measurement of vulnerability. We find the importance of assessing vulnerability based on local indicators reflecting the characteristics of different sectors. The results of analyzing the IDB projects case studies suggest that projects should be designed from project inception to include more relevant indicators of measuring exposure and sensitivity besides adaptive capacity, depending on the attributes of projects. We show that relevant vulnerability indicators can be developed for projects based on existing information.