Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning ...

3.0 Conducting a Vulnerability AssessmentRank 1 2 3 4 5 SSensitivity factorsMangrove protection legislation Good Fairly good Moderate Poor NoneAdaptive capacity factorsCommunity management capacity Good Fairly good Moderate Poor NoneStakeholder involvement Good Fairly good Moderate Poor Noneenforcement. This score will be judgemental andsubject to site-specific circumstances.Rank vulnerability on the scale above, either site bysite or calculated as an average for the mangrove area.Record the score in the final column (S = score).Mangrove protection legislation was identified as asensitivity factor through the WWF pilots, since itsrelative strength or weakness affects mangrove conditionand extent. However, improved, well-implementedlegislation could increase adaptive capacity in the future.Strengths/weaknessesCoastal wetlands like mangroves are usually bestmanaged by the local communities who have longbeen involved with them, and integration of localmanagement structures with the VA and adaptationprocess is necessary for its effectiveness. Participatoryinvolvement of local communities and otherstakeholders (see Section 2.4) will lead to greatersuccess with these activities.Social surveys are sometimes quasi-quantitative, andthere may be barriers to communication or lack ofsupport if the objectives of the VA and adaptationprocess are not fully understood.If there is a contradiction — for example, betweeninformation on mangrove change from GIS analysisand information from oral history — then considerthe error margins of each technique of data gathering.Perhaps the survey sample size was too small, or verbalreference to a particular area was not understood, inwhich case further surveys might be needed.Case study: Tikina Wai, FijiThrough a series of facilitated meetings in thevarious villages of the district, the local communitysystematically identified problems and their presumedcauses as they affect the climate change vulnerabilityof their village and district (Table 23). Identificationof these problems allowed the formulation of potentialsolutions that would guide community planning foradaptation.Some of these consultation results were integratedwith the more scientific components of thevulnerability assessment. For example, the communitymangrove monitors became responsible for repeatsurveys of mangrove conditions (subsection 3.2.1) andsea grass resilience (subsection 3.7.2). The partnershipdeveloped with a local dive shop allowed for continuedmonitoring of coral reef resilience (subsection 3.7.1).Understanding the importance of sediment supply tothe mangroves came from community involvementin the sedimentation stake deployment andremeasurement (subsection 3.6).Such a process demonstrates how results can beanalyzed by the community, and how adaptation optionscan then be prioritized. This process is facilitated by theguidance given below in Sections 4 and 5.Overall, the Tikina Wai community surveys scored:Rank 1 2 3 4 5 SSensitivity factorsMangrove protection legislation Good Fairly good Moderate Poor None 3Adaptive capacity factorsCommunity management capacity Good Fairly good Moderate Poor None 1Stakeholder involvement Good Fairly good Moderate Poor None 176 | Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning for Mangrove Systems