A study of measuring cumulative adaptive capacity for climate change in Sri Lanaka

Abstract

Climate change is considered as the major threat to the human beings in the future. Vulnerability to the climate change refers to the potential of a system to be harmed by an external threat and it is a function of exposure, sensitivity to impacts and the ability or lack of ability to cope or adapt. Adaptive capacity represents the ability of a region or community to cope and thrive in the face of change. In this context, an attempt has made to construct an index to measure the adaptive capacity using five assets as economic, social human, physical and natural. The data set obtained from Sri Lanka Household and Expenditure Survey covering 25000 households. The algorithm used to construct index of adaptive capacity in this paper follows as Weighted Principal Component (WPC. Positive relationship between adaptive capacity and social assets is clear followed by economic assets and physical assets, but human assets have been attributed a negative association. Batticaloa, Jaffna, Ampara, Moneragala, Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Puttlam districts had lower adaptive capacity, alone with Colombo and Gampaha had a higher level of adaptive capacity.