ABSTRACT
Climate-related catastrophes, such as the 2003 floods and heatwaves in Europe, the 2005 hurricanes in the US, Mexico and Cuba, and the persistent droughts and floods in Africa, Australia and Asia, as well as non-climatic highimpact events such as the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, hold a mirror up to the world showing its continued exposure to destructive natural forces. Perhaps more importantly, they also focus attention on the deep-seated patterns of underlying social vulnerability and limited coping capacity that make these natural forces so devastating. All of these examples, usually starkly portrayed via the media, bring to light the daily, real and complex interactions of vulnerability, adaptation and resilience, terms that scientists are grappling with in the global environmental change (GEC) and related scientific communities. They typically produce not just calls for better warning systems and improved scientific forecasting capabilities (although they are also needed), but increase the demand from the public and policy-makers for useful scientific information that could help to ameliorate the situations of those most at risk.
