Lunenburg Part 2 - Section 5 - Social Vulnerability - August 30.pdf

epresentatives of social service organizations, such as Second Story Women’s Centre,
who serve socially vulnerable persons;
and a representative of the Regional Emergency Management Organization, who
understands local emergency management priorities and capacity.
Identifying themes
Reviewing the notes and recordings of the consultations produced themes around social
vulnerability in the District of Lunenburg from the perspective of those involved in service
provision in the municipality. Of particular interest were consultees’ insights into strengths and
weaknesses in community capacity to meet the needs of socially vulnerable persons in an
extreme weather event.
Integration and Conclusions
The final phase of the study involved integrating information obtained from all of the methods
described above to produce a picture of social vulnerability to climate change impacts in the
District of Lunenburg.
Conceptual Framework
Defining Social Vulnerability
The most socially vulnerable populations vary somewhat depending on location, but have the
common thread of experiencing marginalization or lack of social and economic capital, and
almost always include the poor, minorities, disabled persons, young children and the elderly. 23
Social vulnerability takes a different shape in different places because it is socially determined,
not the result of inherent traits. Social vulnerability is created in a social, cultural, political,
economic, and historical context, through relations, structures and processes in wider society.
Therefore, people have little to no control over the forces that render them socially vulnerable. 24
Rather, social vulnerability is enacted through the accordance of different levels of access to
social, political, and economic resources to various people and social groups. 25
It is important to understand the scale on which social vulnerability is generated: entire social
groups are impacted by the social forces that limit access to resources, so members of those
social groups are more likely than other members of society to be socially vulnerable. However,
this does not mean that every member of those social groups is socially vulnerable.
Because social vulnerability is not determined by inherent traits, it is also not static: people can
become more or less vulnerable if their situation changes. For example, as a person enters old
age, or if a disability becomes more severe, they may become more socially vulnerable; if a
23 Dwyer et al., 2004; Tapsell et al., 2010, p. 21; Adger et al., 2004. p. 30; Cutter et al., 2003. p. 243;
Cutter et al., 2009. p. 20.
24 Tapsell et al., 2010. p. 6–7; Dolan and Walker, 2003. p. 2–3; Ford et al., 2009. p 139; Enarson and
Walsh, 2007. p. 7, 10, 36; Mikkonen and Raphael, 2010. p. 7.
25 Tapsell et al., 2010. p. 8, 20; Dwyer et al., 2004. p. 3; Dolan and Walker 2003. p. 2–3; Enarson and
Walsh, 2007. p. 7, 10.
10