Step 2.2: Assess climate change vulnerability

In this step, you will determine the vulnerability of the different land cover types, ecosystems and management topics you've selected. Climate change vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Taking time to identify vulnerability for your land cover, ecosystems and management topics will help you prioritize adaptation actions in later steps.

In order to decide the vulnerability of your land use types and management topics, you’ll have to think about the general climate impacts you selected and the specific characteristics of your location noted in Step 2.1. As you consider these impacts collectively, you’ll get a sense of the overall potential impacts of climate change for each land use or management topic. You’ll also consider the ability of trees, other organisms, and people in your location to cope with these impacts, which is referred to as adaptive capacity.

For each of your land cover types, ecosystems and management topics listed below, use the slider bars to determine climate vulnerability.

For example:

If you’re managing a park that has several tree species that are expected to fare well under current and future climate conditions, and it is buffered from the urban heat island effect, then you might expect the impacts from climate change to be mild for this species. If the trees in the park are generally healthy, species and genetic diversity is high, and you have sufficient resources and support to manage this ecosystem into the future, then you might expect it to have a moderate to high adaptive capacity. Taken together, this would lead you to choose a Low or Moderate climate change vulnerability.

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