ABSTRACT
Much of the recent attention at the international level has focused on the task of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. However, climate-change adaptation is just as important as mitigation. The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has provided strong scientific evidence that climate change is already occurring and thus has presented a pressing case for simultaneously addressing the impacts of climate change through adaptation. Mitigation and adaptation are inherently linked, but there are differences in how they should be approached. Adaptation to social and natural forces is a diffuse and difficult task. Vulnerability assessment has emerged as a common practice in climate change adaptation processes, and, due to a lack of standardization and the multifaceted nature of the concept of vulnerability, it is implemented in many different ways, using a range of definitions of vulnerability and various assessment methods.
