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Vulnerability

vulnerable: open to attack or damage

Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is likely to experience harm due to exposure to perturbations or stress. The ReVA Toolkit helps decision-makers evaluate the vulnerability of ecological goods and services that are valued by society, using several types of information such as:

  • current resource conditions and distributions;

  • estimated sensitivity of resources to the various stresses;

  • estimated spatial distributions of stressors;

  • characterizations of potential effects including synergistic effects; and

  • estimates of the resource's value to society.
 

This information is obtained through measurements collected by many agencies and organizations, and through quantitative models based on those measurements and the best available science. Examples of some of these information types are provided on the next few pages.

 
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