Vulnerability Analysis for Sustainability An emerging consensus holds that vulnerability rests largely within the condition and dynamics of the coupled human environment system exposed to hazards, and vulnerability analysis must be comprehensive, treating not only the system in question but also its many and varied linkages. Our review of the
literature and experience in developing a vulnerability framework (12) suggest that the usefulness of vulnerability analysis
increases when it: (i) Directs attention to vulnerability anchored in the condition of the coupled human–environment system;
(ii) Identifies some of the complexity, interconnectedness, and iterative nature of the components giving rise to and comprising vulnerability;
(iii) Illuminates the nested scales of the vulnerability problem but provides an understanding of the vulnerability of a particular place;
(iv) Draws attention to the potential dynamics within the coupled system that give rise to new hazards;
(v) Facilitates the identification of critical interactions in the human environment system that suggest response opportunities for decision makers;
(vi) Is open to the use of both quantitative and qualitative data and novel methods to derive and analyze information; and
(vii) Assists in the development of metrics, measures, and models for implementation.
Various initiatives identify the need for robust vulnerability
analysis and, increasingly, sustainability and global change science
is asked to improve the linkages between the science
problem and decision-making needs (68, 83, 85).Although surely
not complete, this vulnerability framework and the literature and
case studies on which the framework draws, including the
accompanying papers in this issue, suggest the following lessons,
which have direct applicability for vulnerability assessments for
decision making.l
(i) Human and biophysical vulnerability are linked and should be treated accordingly.
(ii) Beware of one-dimensional vulnerability analyses and be cognizant of varied components and scalar linkages in the coupled system, which increase the range of expected outcomes.
(iii) Do not assume that broadly similar coupled systems have the same vulnerabilities; complex dynamics may cause consequences to vary by system or locale.
(iv) Do not assume that all parts of the coupled system have the same vulnerability; subsystems and components, especially social units, may experience exposure differently, register different impacts, and maintain different response option.
(v) Although comprehensive vulnerability analysis and placebased variations in the coupled systems and processes affecting them favor multiple approaches, vulnerability assessments should follow a common general methodological framework.
(vi) Critical response opportunities are contingent on the coupled system or place in question; thus, general guidelines for
response options should be malleable.
(vii) Conscious efforts must be made to create institutional structures that link vulnerability analyses to decision making.
Vulnerability analysis linked to sustainability requires maturation to better serve various environmental initiatives calling
for increasing attention to the ‘‘so-what’’ questions: the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, International Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and Diversitas, to name a few. This requirement builds from a rich tradition of past work toward comprehensive approaches that couple human and biophysical subsystems and detail their condition, function, and linkages to improve understanding of vulnerability and future projections thereof.