Abstract
The socioeconomic status index, created by Chakraborty et al. (2020), assessed the spatial patterns of social vulnerability at the census tract level to deconstruct and understand the socioeconomic variability and social burden of climate change risk across Canadian neighbourhoods. Research shows that varying scales of aggregating census-based population data can produce different results and conclusions in various geographic contexts. As social vulnerability changes over space and time, understanding the variability of vulnerable populations exposed to climatic hazards helps develop equitable and sustainable climate change adaptation plans and disaster risk management programs. This study presents the first nationwide evidence of the spatial and temporal patterns in social vulnerability to flood risk across Canada by incorporating the impact of geographic scales, variables, and temporal changes on index construction. This exploratory study uses a subset of the 2016 and 2021 national census variables representing racial/ethnic, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics of Canadians to calculate social vulnerability indices at four different geographic scales, including census dissemination area, census subdivision, census tract, and census metropolitan area. The study compares aggregated social vulnerability scores across Indigenous vs non-Indigenous communities, rural vs non-rural municipalities, urban regions, province/territory, and national levels. The results show considerable variability in the social vulnerability of Canadians over time and space, reflecting transformations in population size, economic conditions, and sociodemographic characteristics across communities and places. These results would help improve user confidence in understanding composite vulnerability indices and develop effective adaptation, disaster mitigation, and emergency management plans in high-risk and priority areas.
Presenters
Liton ChakrabortyResearch Associate, Climate Risk Research Group at the Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
Climate Change Adaptation, Flood Risk, Social Resilience, Social Vulnerability
