Towards Efficient Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise

Abstract

Vulnerability is a compact term that represents an accumulative range of exposure, sensitivity and resilience of a system against both internal and external hazards. In light of this conceptual diagnosis, vulnerability assessment studies can measure the degree of a gap in which the system is vulnerable against various hazards by customizing a quantitative model while qualitative model studies indicate gap points. The results of quantitative models vary according to the adopted formula and the customized parameters. The study aims to improve the efficiency of the "coastal vulnerability index (CVI)" method which is used to assign degrees of coastal vulnerability to sea level rise (SLR). The study is using a comparative analytical approach to empirically assess the vulnerability of the African coast to SLR based on a selected group of physical and socioeconomic parameters (seventeen parameters). Although the first model, based on a formula of the square root of product mean and the second model, based on a formula of average of the square root of product sum, have a positive correlation with semistrong relation (+ 0.65), their results are varied. It is found that the first model is used when there is a dominant parameter in the study while the second model is used when there is an equality between parameter weights. Topography associated with proximity to the coast is a dominant factor when assessing the vulnerability of an area to SLR threat.