Demographic Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters in the Context of Climate Change Adaptation

Recently, the climate science community has recognized the importance of including socio-economic scenarios in climate change models as a key element for an integrated perspective on mitigation, adaptation and residual climate impacts. This highlights how demography could contribute to the understanding of the relationships between population dynamics and climate change outcomes. Accordingly, this seminar aims to bring the expertise of the international demographic community with respect to studying demographic and socio-economic differentials to the benefit of the international risk, vulnerability and climate change community. This seminar is also the concluding meeting of an ERC (European Research Council) Advanced Investigator Grant awarded to Wolfgang Lutz in 2008 on the topic "Forecasting societies’ adaptive capacity to climate change."

We call for papers which add to our understanding of demographic differences in vulnerability and adaptive capacities to natural disasters and climate change. We are looking for a mix of theoretical, methodological, empirical and policy-relevant papers which address the issues at various operational levels. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The way demographic factors such as age, sex, education, place of residence and other relevant characteristics are associated with vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
• Exploration of the mechanisms and pathways through which demographic factors are related to vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
• Consideration that successful adaptive responses of certain exposure groups to climate stress may have adverse impacts in the long run or increase the vulnerability of other systems, sectors or population groups.