Social Sustainability
Vulnerable Community
A community facing disproportionate risk from environmental and economic change — the equity centre of adaptation and just transition policy.
Definition
A vulnerable community is a community whose exposure, sensitivity and limited adaptive capacity place it at disproportionate risk from environmental hazards, economic shocks and transitions: low-income settlements on flood-prone land, Indigenous peoples on degrading territories, smallholder farmers at rainfall's mercy, coal towns facing closure, island communities facing the sea. Vulnerability is produced by the intersection of geography, poverty, marginalisation and institutional neglect — not by any inherent quality of the people.
Overview
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