The Scientific World Journal

Research Article

Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability at the Local Level: A Case Study on the Dniester River Basin (Moldova)

Table 1

Evaluation scheme of the assessment of vulnerability to climate change.


Sector	Indicator		Functional relationships	Individual and average weights

Exposure

	Temperature change in a warm season		Temperature exposure	0.25		0.5
Climate	Humidity index in a warm season		Humidity index exposure	0.25		0.5
	Temperature change in a cold season		Temperature exposure			0.5

Sensitivity

Physiographical sensitivity

	Arable land		Area sensitivity	2.0
	Perennial plants			1.0
Land use (%)	Grasslands		Area sensitivity	1.5	0.25	*0.33*
	Forests			2.0
	Surface water			2.0
	Soil quality		Quality sensitivity		0.25		−0.5
		Surface erosion			0.25
Soils	Geomorphologic processes	Ravines	Area sensitivity	1.0	0.25	*0.33*
		Landslides		2.0	0.25
Construction	Built-up areas					*0.33*

Social-economic sensitivity

	Population density (no. of inhabitants per sq. km)		Density sensitivity		0.20
	Urban population (%)		Share sensitivity		0.20
Population	Women (%)				0.20	0.25
	Natural growth		Growth sensitivity		0.20
	Demographic load		Load sensitivity		0.20
	Ratio of unprofitable versus profitable enterprises		Ratio sensitivity		0.17
	Annual average yield of milk				0.17		0.5
Agriculture		potatoes			0.17
	Yields	vegetables	Yield sensitivity		0.17	0.25
	Yields	fruits			0.17
		cereals			0.17
Labor force	Unemployment rate					0.25
Crime rate	Total crime rate		Rate sensitivity	0.5		0.25
Crime rate	Grave crimes			0.5

Adaptive capacity

	Road density		Density capacity		0.20
	Share of industrial workers		Share capacity		0.20
Economics	Mobility of employees		Mobility capacity		0.20	0.25
	Investments in capital asset		Investments capacity		0.20
	Average monthly wage		Wage capacity		0.20
	Milk production		Production capacity		0.33
Agriculture	Slaughter of cattle and poultry				0.33	0.25	0.5
	Use of mineral fertilizers (per 1 ha)		Optimal use capacity		0.33
	No. of physicians per 10 thou. inhabitants				0.33
Medical provision	No. of middle medical staff per 10 thou. inhabitants		Number capacity		0.33	0.25
	No. of beds in hospitals per 10 thou. inhabitants				0.33
Housing	Building of new houses		Housing capacity		0.5	0.25
Housing	Housing provision rate				0.5

, : increase or decrease of an indicator.