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Visualization tools for coastal climate change vulnerability assessmentand adaptation guidelines: a case study in Cartagena, ColombiaVivian Ochoa, Paula Cristina Sierra-Correa, Venus Rocha, Francisco A. Arias-Isaza, XimenaRojas & Mauricio BejaranoResearch Program on Marine and Costal Management and Information Systems Lab at Marine and Coastal ResearchInstitute – INVEMAR. Santa Marta, Colombiapaula.sierra@invemar.org.coAbstractThe city of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia is one of the areas most at risk from rising sea level as aresult of climate change. Data from a range of projects related to climate change vulnerability assessmentand coastal zone guidelines led to the design of a dynamic visualization tool that enables easyidentification of the most vulnerable areas of the city, using biophysical and socioeconomic factors,projecting the results of the analysis for future climate scenarios 2019 and 2040. One of the objectives ofthis tool is to strengthen managers’ capacity to support decisions making processes associated withdifferent coastal risks such as sea level rise. The Marine and Coastal Research Institute (INVEMAR) aimfor these visualization tools (Geovisor and its associated webpage), to demonstrate how these techniquescombining GIS and Geoweb systems can support land use planning and adaptation measures in Colombia(and urban coastal cities beyond).A study case in Cartagena de IndiasCartagena de Indias is one out of eight Caribbean coastal areas identified as critically exposed andvulnerable to Sea Level Rise (SLR) as a result of climate change (INVEMAR, 2003; Vides et al., 2008).Projections anticipate that rapid SLR will affect Cartagena in several ways: damage to key infrastructureand historic heritage sites (which is the main tourism attraction), exacerbated coastal erosion, recedingbeaches, changes in the coastal wetland systems dynamics, and marine intrusion (INVEMAR, 2008;SCN, 2010). The Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS) recentlyidentified Cartagena as a priority site to update socioeconomic information and integrate climate changevulnerability assessments as the first step to define adaptation guidelines and measures. This circumstancewas also seen as an opportunity to provide an example of how science and research could influence policymaking and planning decisions.Progress in information technologies has made it easier to integrate knowledge to analyze localterritory from a holistic perspective using web and mapping tools, at different scales, sharing resultsmassively (Stojanovic et al., 2010; Pettit et al., 2013), using, for example, an online geographicalinformation system available: Geovisor. Geovisor allows integrating the geographical information createdinto web tools for dynamic referencing (CLIMARES, 2013). This allows online access to mappingelaborated by the project and offering web map services (WMS), applying OGC international protocolsand standards.Geovisor is a tool designed to support adaptation to climate change in local planning by showing allusers areas vulnerable to the effects of climate change, using the Cartagena’s information as a pilot sitefor urban coastal cities in tropical areas. Our analysis considers effects of climate change, includingfloods, loss of beaches, coastal erosion, ecological heritage affectation and ecosystem servicesdegradation, as well as declining catches in fishing activity and the increase of diseases like dengue andmalaria (INVEMAR, 2012).Using Geovisor, we modeled two climate change risk scenarios. The first was a ‘pessimistic scenario’:where no changes are made in policies and the situation stays the same as at present. The second was an‘optimistic scenario’: where climate risks are managed through policy changes or adaptation measuresimplemented to reduce public and ecosystem services exposure to current and future climate threats,identifying the most vulnerable biophysical and socioeconomic areas in the city and projecting the resultsof those analysis for the years 2019 and 2040.To develop Geovisor, we combined information from existing databases at the Marine and CoastalResearch Institute – INVEMAR (data comes from different climate change research projects executed in77