Step 3: Sensitivity
Once we have assessed our exposure (step 2) we can consider sensitivity. Sensitivity refers to the seriousness of the potential impact from climate change. A way to assess sensitivity is to ask the questions, “If the climate change impact will take place in my area, how important will this impact be?” The video below explains the process of assessing sensitivity to your particular climate change indicators.
Sensitivity is usually scored using a high, medium or low rating. In the Vulnerability Assessment Tool, each indicator has a proposed way of scoring sensitivity as high medium or low. If we consider an example indicator from the human settlement sector, Increase impacts on Informal Dwellings, for sensitivity we would ask the question: “What percentage of households live in informal dwellings?”. The answer to the sensitivity question has partly been determined in the Vulnerability Assessment Tool already using 2010 National Census Data but may also require more recent statics and local knowledge.
Download the Vulnerability Assessment Score Sheet (Excel) to conduct your own exposure assessment.