Abstracts
Assessing Community Vulnerability to the Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic in British Columbia
John Parkins1, Norah MacKendrick
1Canadian Forest Service
jparkins@nrcan.gc.ca
The current Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic in British Columbia and the impending social and economic consequences of this climate-related phenomenon represent significant challenges for communities in the region. This paper presents a framework for assessing the vulnerability of rural and resource-based communities that includes: an assessment of sensitivity and exposure to climate change threats and an assessment of adaptive capacity within these communities. Adaptive capacity is assumed to involve not only the social and economic profile of communities but process-related variables that stem from risk perceptions and political and institutional factors external and internal to the community. The presentation includes two components: (1) An organizing framework for vulnerability assessment that draws heavily on the international climate change literature but also relates to literature in natural hazards, health promotion, risk analysis, and forest sociology. (2) A vulnerability assessment for 11 pilot-study communities in BC. This assessment combines measures of physical exposure and sensitivity to the epidemic as well as measures of adaptive capacity that include social, economic, political, and institutional factors. Results are presented as composite indices and are spatially represented in a GIS mapping format to identify zones of risk. Policy implications from this work include the need for more targeted local and state-level responses to enhance capacity in rural and resource-based communities.
2005-04-05 |
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