A Toolkit for Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) of near-shore marine social-ecological systems in the Western Indian Ocean

This Toolkit for Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) of near-shore marine social-ecological systems in the Western Indian Ocean represents a set of guidelines and instructions for undertaking CCVA on coastal social and ecological systems, focused on mangrove, coral reef and seagrass ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean region (WIO). The Toolkit comprises a background on climate change and climate change vulnerability, including conceptual and analytical vulnerability assessment frameworks. It provides a step-by-step procedural and methodological guide on conducting CCVA, including key datasets and detailed case studies on coral reefs and mangroves. This work is underpinned by the need to generate decision support tools to inform climate change adaptation strategies in the WIO. Therefore, this Toolkit aims to provide practical and scientifically sound guidance on climate change vulnerability assessments in coastal and marine social-ecological systems, including demonstrating the operationalization of CCVA and how outputs could be applied to prioritize climate change adaptation actions.

The Toolkit is aimed at a wide range of stakeholders, including producers (those with technical capacity undertake a CCVA process) and users (policymakers and managers). They present various examples from within and outside the WIO region and contextualize the CCVA for the region to provide guidance and tools that can be useful for the development of CCVA to support climate change adaptation strategies. The Toolkit consists of climate data (future and retrospective) and essential information on climate change data, conceptual and analytical frameworks and regional case studies.

The Toolkit is structured as follows:

Section 1: Provides background to climate change vulnerability

Section 2: Describes common indicators of climate change vulnerability

Section 3: Explores linkages of climate change vulnerability framework with SDGs

Section 4: Provides a step-by-step guide for CCVA

Section 5: Reviews existing CCVA in the WIO

Section 6: Highlights challenges in undertaking CCVA

Section 7: Describes how to communicate CCVA outputs

Section 8: Conclusion