Assessing climate change vulnerability in coastal communities: a composite vulnerability index approach in Kuala Gula, Malaysia

The effects of climate change are diverse and impact several aspects of the environment, coastal activities, social dynamics, economic factors, and drivers of growth. This paper investigates the vulnerability assessment caused by climate change in one of Malaysia's coastal areas. We analyze the relationships between indicators of vulnerability by correlating the perceptions of a community characterised by both identified and anticipated climate change situations, whereby we develop a risk perception index that comprises cognitive, contextual, and affective factors as one of the indicators under exposure indices. The Composite Vulnerability Index (CVI) methodology was used to provide a comprehensive assessment of the community's vulnerability to climate change in Kuala Gula. The area is very vulnerable to dwindling fresh water supplies, changing climate, and poor socioeconomic resources of the local population. Data on three components of CVI (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity) were collected from household members using a close-ended questionnaire-based survey. Our analysis demonstrates that these coastal communities are prone to vulnerability and greater consequences regarding threats associated with climate change, as the CVI of Kuala Gula was considerably high. In addition, the results indicated that the exposure index was high, while the sensitivity and adaptive capacity indices were at moderate levels. From the statistical analysis of the exposure and perceptions indices, we found that an increased level of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change led to greater perceptions among Kuala Gula coastline communities regarding climate change. Furthermore, a lack of financial capital and low-income households has a detrimental impact on the overall adaptive ability of the local community. As a result, the methodology may assist local policymakers in integrating and enhancing local multi-hazard knowledge in relation to the concepts of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive ability, as well as in making information usable for mitigation and adaptation of climate change within these communities.