Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments: An International Handbook (Environmental Science and Technology Library)

Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments: An International Handbook provides comprehensive guidance on methods for evaluating the potential impacts of climate change and possible adaptation strategies to cope with those impacts. The handbook offers 'step-by-step' instructions on the application of specific assessment methods for the following sectors: + agriculture + grasslands and livestock + forests + water resources + coastal resources + human health + fisheries + wildlife The book also offers guidance on the creation of climate change scenarios at a country level, and provides detailed descriptions of steps to follow in the application of selected assessment methods, data requirements for the methods, interpretation of results, and limitations of the methods. The methodologies described have been widely used in published studies. Over fifty of the developing countries and countries with economies in transition participating in the US Country Studies Program used an earlier version of this handbook as a tool for their vulnerability and adaptation studies. The handbook complements the Technical Guidelines for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1994), building on the analytical framework and discussion of alternative methods in the IPCC guidelines. Audience: Analysts and researchers engaged in studies of the climate change vulnerability and adaptation.