Step 2: Exposure

The second step in the climate change vulnerability assessment refers to the concept of “Exposure”. Now that we know what the list of all potential impacts are (Step 1), we need to determine whether or not we are exposed to the particular climate change impact. We can ask the question, “Will this particular impact take place in my area?” The video below explains the process of assessing exposure to your particular climate change indicators

Exposure is usually scored using a yes/no answer. If we consider an example indicator from the human settlement sector, Increase impacts on Informal Dwellings, for exposure we would ask the question: “Do we have informal dwellings in the area?”. The answer to the exposure question can be determined using resources such as the Lets Respond Toolkit Maps and the LTAS reports, and our general knowledge of the area.

Download the Vulnerability Assessment Score Sheet (Excel) to conduct your own exposure assessment.