LOO: Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index
Channel: U.S. Naval War College
Date: 2021-05-04

Coastal cities are at the forefront of the climate emergency. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and warming temperatures are amplifying the vulnerability of city residents. At the same time, many coastal cities are experiencing rapid urbanization, while grappling with underlying economic and social issues, such as inequality, unemployment, outdated infrastructure, and governance gaps.

These interconnected issues have profound consequences for the social, political, and ecological health of coastal cities and its residents. Climate risks weaken the economic, food, and environmental security of urban areas, have the potential to increase tension, foment unrest, and undermine efforts to adapt or recover from the compounding effects of climate change. To prioritize resilience actions, decision-makers needs sound data and information which integrate complex climate threats across the land and seascape. In response, the Stimson Center developed CORVI: The Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index, a decision support tool which compares a diverse range of ecological, financial and political risks connected to climate change, to produce a coastal city risk profile. With this information decision makers can make smart investments and prioritize actions to build resilience where it matters most.

CORVI was successfully piloted in the coastal cities of Castries, Saint Lucia and Kingston, Jamaica. The first two CORVI city assessments demonstrate how CORVI can aid government decision makers and provide a holistic assessment of these diverse risks so they can prioritize actions and smart investments for risk reduction in coastal cities. In 2021 CORVI is expanding, with additional assessments underway in the Asia Pacific (Chattogram, Bangladesh; Dagupan, Philippines; and Suva, Fiji), the Caribbean (Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis), and East Africa (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Mombasa, Kenya). This will be accompanied by an analytical data platform to display CORVI city results and further work to tailor technical results to the needs of decision-makers. Decision

makers need to act now in the face of climate uncertainty. With this data and information, the CORVI tool is designed to help coastal cities build resilience against climate security risks before it is too late.