Ecological vulnerability indicators

Abstract Indicators provide easy and quick information on the status or condition of an object of interest and are therefore widely used in policy-making. In recent years, policy interest in vulnerability research has increased and a growing number of studies have been aimed at developing vulnerability indicators. Some of these studies have been done within the social–ecological system (SES) framework, taking into account both social vulnerability and ecological vulnerability. A particular challenged faced, however, is with regard to the incorporation of indicators to capture the latter, especially as the concept of vulnerability as applied in ecology is relatively new and not yet well-explored. This paper expounds on this problem by answering the following questions: (1) How are the concept of vulnerability and thereby ecological vulnerability currently understood? (2) What are the challenges in the development and use of ecological vulnerability indicators? (3) What are the current efforts to overcome these challenges? One insight gathered is that due to the complexity, nonlinearity, and multiplicity of dynamics of natural systems, development of sufficiently general indicators of ecological vulnerability may not be realizable. Rather, ecological vulnerability assessment and the development of indicators thereof, whether done independent of the human system or within the SES, should be conducted at smaller scales and must be context-specific.

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