Connecting coastal communities to share knowledge and resources for marine hazard risk reduction: HVSI online platform

Speaker

Tugce Conger, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1W5Follow
Jackie Yip, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1W5Follow
Greg Oulahen PhD, University of British Columbia
Michelle Marteleira, University of British Columbia
Christopher Carter, University of British Columbia
Emily Gray, University of British Columbia
Stephanie Chang PhD, University of British Columbia

Presentation Abstract

Numerous quantitative indices have been developed for measuring the vulnerability of communities to natural hazards. However, such indicator-based approaches are typically used for identifying highly vulnerable communities to assist in resource prioritization. This study developed a new approach to use vulnerability indicators to identify places that are similarly vulnerable, rather than the most vulnerable communities. The premise is that learning from other communities’ experiences and practices to reduce disaster vulnerability is important for fostering local and regional resilience. The approach aims to promote connections between communities that are similarly vulnerable to coastal hazards. To identify similar communities, the Hazard Vulnerability Similarity Index (HVSI) was developed, which quantifies similarity in terms of a series of 25 indicators that characterizes the communities’ economic, social, built-environment, natural environment, and institutional capital.

As a pilot application, the HVSI is applied to 50 most populous communities in the Strait of Georgia region. To ensure the relevance and usability of the work, we hosted a workshop to engage over 30 practitioners involved in vulnerability reduction efforts in the region to refine the selection of indicators and the design of an online platform. The result is made accessible to communities in the platform. While the data for many indicators are from publicly available sources, the data for the institutional capital indicators was mostly collected through a survey with officials of the study communities. Besides identifying communities that are similarly vulnerable to the community of interest, the user can also find out what vulnerability reduction actions those communities has taken in the platform’s community profiles. Therefore the platform aims to promote network building and knowledge and resource sharing in the region.

This talk will highlight our participatory processes during the development of the HVSI platform, its specific features, and the preliminary results on platform usage.

Session Title

Building coastal ocean social-ecological resilience in the Salish Sea: what does it mean and how can it be done?

Conference Track

People

Conference Name

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)

Document Type

Event

Start Date

2016 12:00 AM

End Date

2016 12:00 AM

Location

2016SSEC

Type of Presentation

Oral

Genre/Form

conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)

Contributing Repository

Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.

Subjects – Topical (LCSH)

Climatic changes--Risk management--Georgia, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.); Climate change mitigation--Georgia, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.); Natural disasters--Georgia, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.)--Environmental management--Georgia, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.); Environmental policy--Georgia, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.)

Geographic Coverage

Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Georgia, Strait of (B.C. and Wash.)

Comments

The peer-reviewed research on HVSI methodology and preliminary demonstration can be found in the following link.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-015-1803-x

The link of the HVSI platform can be found in the following link. The beta-stage of this platform is scheduled to be launched in January 2016.

https://resilient-c.ubc.ca

Rights

This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.

Type

Text

Language

English

Format

application/pdf