Disaster, Vulnerability and Resilience, Spring 2005

Abstract:: In recent years, the redistribution of risk has created conditions for natural and technological disasters to become more widespread, more difficult to manage, and more discriminatory in their effects. Policy and planning decision-makers frequently focus on the impact that human settlement patterns, land use decisions, and risky technologies can have on vulnerable populations. However, to ensure safety and promote equity, they also must be familiar with the social and political dynamics that are present at each stage of the disaster management cycle. Therefore, this course will provide students with: 1) An understanding of the breadth of factors that give rise to disaster vulnerability; and 2) A foundation for assessing and managing the social and political processes associated with disaster policy and planning.

Vulnerability to Environmental Change

Abstract:: This 4 week module on vulnerability to environmental change is part of a third-year course called Sustainability and the Environment (EGS 3021F) in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science. The course introduces the concept of vulnerability and explores its origin drawing on three different conceptual approaches,namely: risk/hazard, political/economy/ecology, and ecological resilience. It then looks at different methods for undertaking vulnerability assessments. Building on the theory and method sections, it focuses on why the concept of vulnerability is important in the field of environmental change, with a focus on climate change. The international process of assessing the science is explored, followed by material addressing adaptation to climate change and examples of vulnerability and adaptation in practice in South Africa.