Guidance for Developing Coastal Vulnerability Metrics

Wamsley, T.V.; Collier, Z.A.; Brodie, K.; Dunkin, L.M.; Raff, D., and Rosati, J.D., 2015. Guidance for developing coastal vulnerability metrics.Appropriate coastal zone management and storm-damage risk reduction requires the assessment of vulnerability in natural and human environments. Confusion arises, however, as vulnerability is conceptualized in many different ways and is closely related to other concepts such as risk and resilience. This paper defines nomenclature, presents a conceptual definition of vulnerability, and lays out a proposed conceptual approach for identifying and defining meaningful metrics to ensure a complete assessment of coastal vulnerability. While the focus of this paper is developing metrics for assessing vulnerability to coastal storms, the approach is valid for a wide range of systems and hazards at multiple scales and can explicitly consider the impacts of climate change. The approach is demonstrated through application to a simply coupled human-environment system on the coast and explicitly considers natural and nature-based features.