Content deleted Content added
m →Extension of the general concept: HTTP → HTTPS for Inter-Research Science Publisher, replaced: http://www.int-res.com/ → https://www.int-res.com/ |
→Basic methodology: Added image of CDC SVI variables |
||
| (22 intermediate revisions by 12 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Measure of the exposure of a population to some hazard}}
A '''vulnerability index''' is a measure of the exposure of a population to some hazard. Typically, the index is a composite of multiple quantitative indicators that via some formula, delivers a single numerical result. Through such an index "diverse issues can be combined into a standardised framework...making comparisons possible".<ref name=app6>
The origin of vulnerability indexes as a policy planning tool began with the [[United Nations Environmental Program]]. One of the participants in the early task forces has also conducted secondary research documenting the evolution of the analytic tool through various stages.
== Basic methodology ==
[[File:Social Vulnerability Index variables grouped into four themes.png|thumb|CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index variables grouped into four themes]]
The basic methodology of constructing a vulnerability index is described by [[University of Malta]] researcher [[Lino Briguglio]] who developed an economic vulnerability index (EVI) for describing the economic vulnerability of [[Small Island Developing States]] (SIDS).<ref name="Pereira">{{cite journal |last1=Pereira |first1=Edwina E. |last2=Steenge |first2=Albert E. |title=Vulnerability and Resilience in the Caribbean Island States; the Role of Connectivity |journal=Networks and Spatial Economics |date=1 September 2022 |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=515–540 |doi=10.1007/s11067-021-09533-w |language=en |issn=1572-9427|doi-access=free |pmc=8159251 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Briguglio |first=Lino |date=1992 |title=Preliminary Study on the Construction of an Index for Ranking Countries According to their Economic Vulnerability |journal=UNCTAD/LDC/Misc.4
}}</ref> The individual measures are weighted according to their relative importance. A cumulative score is then generated, typically by adding the weighted values. [[Decision tree]]s can evaluate alternative policy options. Much of the original research has been evaluated by Lino Briguglio and presenters at Oxford, providing a body of secondary source material.
== Earlier use ==
A composite vulnerability index grew out of the work of [[South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission]] (SOPAC), [[Fiji]], and the Expert Group on Vulnerability Indexes<ref>Pantin, D. (1997). Alternative Ecological Vulnerability Indicators for Developing Countries with Special Reference to SIDS. Report prepared for the Expert Group on Vulnerability Index. UN(DESA), 17–19 December 1997.</ref> affiliated with the United Nations, in response to a call made in the Barbados Plan of Action, the [[Alliance of Small Island States]] (AOSIS).<ref name=tr0275>
Bruguglio participated in development of the vulnerability index model for international organizations of small island developing states.<ref>Briguglio, L. (1992). Preliminary Study on the Construction of an Index for Ranking Countries According to their Economic Vulnerability, UNCTAD/LDC/Misc.4 (1992).</ref> University of Malta also hosts the Islands and Small States Institute, Foundation for International Studies. Other institutional participants included the New Zealand Official Development Assistance (NZODA) Programme.<ref name=tr0275/> In 1996, the concept of a composite vulnerability index had been tentatively taken up by Commonwealth policy analysts.<ref>Wells, J. (1996). Composite Vulnerability Index: A Preliminary Report. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.</ref> In 1997, official background papers of the SIDS unit reflected the term "vulnerability index" at least internally.<ref>United Nations – DPCSD (1997). Vulnerability Index (Revised Background Paper). SD-SIDS Unit.</ref> It was also advanced in Commonwealth channels.<ref>Wells, J. (1997). Composite Vulnerability Index: A Revised Report. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.</ref> By 1997, the term was approved for publication by the staff of the [[UN Secretary General]] in the SG's Report on Development of a Vulnerability Index for SIDS.<ref>United Nations (1997). Report of the Secretary-General on the Development of a Vulnerability Index for Small Island Developing States (Advance Unedited Version to be submitted to the Commission for Sustainable Development, Sixth Session, 20 April-1 May 1998, and to the Committee for Development Planning, 32nd session, 4–8 May 1998).</ref> This concept was subsequently adopted by other experts in that field.<ref>Easter, C. (1998). 'Small States and Development: A Composite Index of Vulnerability' in Small States: Economic Review and Basic Statistics, Commonwealth Secretariat, December 1998</ref> and explicitly named as such.<ref>Crowards, T. (1999). An Economic Vulnerability Index for Developing Countries, with Special Reference to the Caribbean: Alternative Methodologies and Provisional Results. Caribbean Development Bank, March 1999.</ref>
Line 15 ⟶ 18:
==Extension of the general concept ==
The [[IPCC]] embraced vulnerability as a key category in 2001.<ref>IMPACTS, ADAPTATION, AND VULNERABILITY/Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability is the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the consequences of, and adaptation responses to, climate change.</ref> A 2002 paper then applied a vulnerability indexing model to analysis of vulnerability to [[sea level rise]] for a US coastal community.<ref>[https://www.int-res.com/articles/cr2002/22/c022p255.pdf Vulnerability of coastal communities to sea-level rise: a case study of Cape May County, New Jersey, USA]</ref> At a 2008 [[Capacity Building]] Seminar at Oxford, the "[[Climate Vulnerability Index]]"
==In hazard planning==
The concept has been extended and applied in dealing with risk from natural hazards and the part that population metrics play in making such a situation into a disaster. In the USA this has been done at a county level. And is run by the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/products/sovifaq.aspx |title=SoVI Frequently Asked Questions |access-date=2013-01-27 |archive-date=2012-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724053603/http://webra.cas.sc.edu/hvri/products/sovifaq.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> since 2003.
===In medicine ===
In 2005 a "Histopathological Plaque Vulnerability Index" was proposed.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Local Maximal Stress Hypothesis and Computational Plaque Vulnerability Index for Atherosclerotic Plaque Assessment |pmc=1474005 | pmid=16389527 |doi=10.1007/s10439-005-8267-1 |volume=33 |issue=12 |date=December 2005 |last1=Tang |first1=Dalin |last2=Yang |first2=Chun |last3=Zheng |first3=Jie|first4=Pamela|last4=Woodard|first5=Jeffrey|last5=Saffitz|first6=Joseph|last6=Petruccelli
|first7=Gregorio|last7=Sicard|first8=Chun|last8=Yuan|display-authors=1|journal=Ann Biomed Eng |pages=1789–801}}</ref>
==See also==
| |||