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Vulnerability
Vulnerability is an essential component of the climate resilience discussion because people that are the most likely to experience the majority of negative impacts of climate change are those that are least capable of developing robust and comprehensive climate resiliency infrastructure and response systems. However what exactly constitutes a vulnerable community is still open to debate. The International Panel on Climate Change has defined vulnerability using three characteristics: the “adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and exposure” to the effects of climate change. The adaptive capacity refers to a community’s capacity to create resiliency infrastructure, while the sensitivity and exposure elements are both tied to economic and geographic elements that vary widely in differing communities. There are, however, many commonalities between vulnerable communities.

Vulnerability can mainly be broken down into 2 major categories, economic vulnerability, based on socioeconomic factors, and geographic vulnerability. Neither are mutually exclusive.

Economic Vulnerability
At its basic level, a community that is economically vulnerable is one that is ill prepared for the effects of climate change because it lacks the needed financial resources. Preparing a climate resilient society will require huge investments in infrastructure, city planning, engineering sustainable energy sources, and preparedness systems. From a global perspective, it is more likely that people living at or below poverty will be affected the most by climate change and are thus the most vulnerable, because they will have the least amount of resource dollars to invest in resiliency infrastructure. They will also have the least amount of resource dollars for cleanup efforts after more frequently occurring natural climate change related disasters.

Geographic Vulnerability
A second definition of vulnerability relates to geographic vulnerability. The most geographically vulnerable locations to climate change are those that will be impacted by side effects of natural hazards, such as rising sea levels and by dramatic changes in ecosystem services, including access to food. Island nations are usually noted as more vulnerable but communities that rely heavily on a sustenance based lifestyle are also at greater risk.

Roger E. Kasperson and Jeanne X. Kasperson of the Stockholm Environmental Institute, in a May 2001 study “Climate Change, Vulnerability and Social Justice” compiled a list. Vulnerable as having one or more of these characteristics.
 * food insecure
 * water scarce
 * delicate marine ecosystem
 * fish dependent
 * small island community

Vulnerability and Equity: Environmental Justice and Climate Justice
Equity is another essential component of vulnerability and is closely tied to issues of environmental justice and climate justice. Who participates in and who has access to climate resiliency services and infrastructure are more than likely going to fall along historically unequitable patterns of distribution. As the most vulnerable communities are likely to be the most heavily impacted, a climate justice movement is coalescing in response. There are many aspects of climate justice that relate to resiliency and many climate justice advocates argue that justice should be an essential component of resiliency strategies. Similar frameworks that have been applied to the Climate Justice movement can be utilized to address some of these equity issues. The frameworks are similar to other types of justice movements and include- contractariansim which attempts to allocate the most benefits for the poor, utilitarianism which seeks to find the most benefits for the most amount of people, egalitarianism which attempts to reduce inequality, and libertarianism which emphasizes a fair share of burden but also individual freedoms.

The Act for Climate Justice Campaign has defined climate justice as “a vision to dissolve and alleviate the unequal burdens created by climate change. As a form of environmental justice, climate justice is the fair treatment of all people and freedom from discrimination with the creation of policies and projects that address climate change and the systems that create climate change and perpetuate discrimination”.

Climate Justice can incorporate both grassroots as well as international and national level organizing movements.

Local Level Issues of Equity
Indigenous peoples often live sustenance based lifestyles, relying heavily on local ecosystem services for their livelihoods. According to some definitions, indigenous peoples are often some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and advocating for participation of marginalized groups is one goal of the indigenous people’s climate justice movement. Climate change will likely dramatically alter local food production capacity, which will impact those people who are more dependent on local food sources and less dependent on global or regional food supplies. The greatest injustice is that people living this type of lifestyle are least likely to have contributed to the causes of global climate change in the first place. Indigenous peoples movements often involve protests and calling on action from world leaders to address climate change concerns.

Another local level climate justice movement is the adaptation finance approach which has been found in some studies to be a positive solution by providing resource dollars directly to communities in need.

International and National Climate Justice
The carbon market approach is one international and national concept proposed that tries to solve the issue by using market forces to make carbon use less affordable, but vulnerable host communities that are the intended beneficiaries have been found to receive little to no benefit. One problem noted with the carbon market approach is the inherent conflict of interest embedded between developed and sustenance based communities. Developed nations that have often prioritized growth of their own gross national product over implementing changes that would address climate change concerns by taxing carbon which might damage GDP. . In addition the pace of change necessary to implement a carbon market approach is too slow to be effective at most international and national policy levels.

Alternatively, a study by V.N Mather et al proposes a multi-level approach that focuses on addressing some primary issues concerning climate justice at local and international levels. The approach includes
 * developing the capacity for a carbon market approach
 * focusing on power dynamics within local and regional government
 * managing businesses in regards to carbon practices
 * special attention given to developing countries

Climate Justice, Environmental Justice, and the United States
The issue of environmental justice and climate justice is relevant within the United States because historically communities of color and low socioeconomic communities have been under served and underrepresented in terms of distribution and participation. The question of “by and for whom” resiliency strategies are targeted and implemented is of great concern  Inadequate response and resiliency strategies to recent natural disasters in communities of color, such as Hurricane Katrina, are examples of environmental injustices and inadequate resilience strategies in already vulnerable communities

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleNAACP has recently begun a Climate Justice campaign [] in response to events such as Hurricane Katrina and in preparation for future climate change related natural disasters. The goal of this campaign is to address the 3 R’s of climate justice: resilience, resistance, and revisioning. The NAACP’s climate justice initiative will address climate resilience through advocacy, outreach, political actions, research and education.

Urban Resilience
A strategy proposed by M.J. Coulier et al. includes placing a higher priority on monetizing ecosystem services, a major component of urban life, as well as the benefits of creating green spaces. They also emphasize the need for community participation in the planning process. A recent review of urban sprawl by B. Wilson et al. outlines many of the trends in city planning associated with sprawl that could be mitigated by a resiliency centered urban planning approach. Some of the negative impacts from urban sprawl include heat island effects, air pollution, as well as the spread of impacts.

Adaptive Resilience
Implementing adapative resiliency strategies can be approached from many different levels. Comprehensive Adaptation Strategies have been outlined by many sources, but often include a framework for addressing the root cause of climate changes. A strategy proposed by Ioan Fazey et al. incorporates these components: eliminating the core causes of climate change, ramping up response options, and facilitating the human capability to respond.