Climate change vulnerability assessments are performed for numerous purposes, with each purpose having particular information needs, and so this requires a particular assessment method to provide this information.

Although the majority of the world’s fisherfolk live in areas susceptible to the impacts of climate change, relationships between the physical impacts of climate change and the livelihood vulnerability of poor fishing communities have seldom been investigated. This paper reports on a project that explored the potential impact of climate change on the sustainability of capture and enhancement fisheries important to poor people, with a view to informing the development of a research agenda in this field.

In 1997 the UK Department for International Development (DFID) adopted the priorities of the White Paper on International Development recognising the significance of socio-economic factors in making individuals vulnerable to disaster.

The policy paper (a primer to a more comprehensive policy bulletin) draws insights from the Linking Climate Adaptation (LCA) project, and addresses climate change adaptation and developing countries’ vulnerabilities to extreme climate change events. The document examines in overview country case studies and syntheses, the future climate research agenda and the rationale of the LCA Network that aims to link adaptation policy makers, practitioners and communities impacted by climate.

This reports on a series of assessments made for the city of Port Vila, Vanuatu to measure the baseline for understanding critical social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities and range of risks in the face of climate change.

This report is based on knowledge generated through three visits to the city by both report authors, a variety of engagement activity (interviews, workshops and a transect walk), elicitation of local/traditional knowledge, collating and analysing available primary data, and a comprehensive desk-top analysis of relevant literature.