Methodology for the assessment of vulnerability of South Pacific island countries to sea-level rise and climate change

A methodology for the assessment of vulnerability to sea-level rise and climate change in the South Pacific was developed using the island countries of Fiji and Western Samoa. The approach adopted here recognizes the coastal zone as a set of coastal systems. Each coastal system is made up of sub-systems, which consist of coastal sub-system elements. The concepts of vulnerability and resilience were employed for assessing the possible impacts of sea-level rise and climate change on each system. A semi-quantatitive scoring method was developed to judge the vulnerability and the resilience of each system. This methodology was adopted in the studies for Fiji and Western Samoa. The results of the assessment for Nacula, Fiji, are presented as an example of the case studies, showing the effectiveness of the methodology in reflecting the particular attributes of the South Pacific in vulnerability assessment. -Author