Iran's Vulnerability assessment to climate change

It is well recognized today that climate change is affecting our planet’s geological, biological and ecological balance which makes the universal change creating ever-more complicated systems. A critical problem for policy- makers is to identify the extent of climate change impacts on individual regions. Like many countries, experiencing extreme events, Iran is also influenced by climate change causing serious problems such as water crisis. Since the available studies have not considered the overall sensitivity to climate change at the regional level in Iran, this paper evaluates the vulnerability to climate change using Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) across the thirty one provinces of the country with the aim of assisting the proper policy responses. Twenty two sub indicators are determined in order to display the three main components of vulnerability: exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The outcomes represent that Hamadan and Alborz are the most sensitive provinces to climate change, thus resulted in more capacity to cope with climate change. This is greatly influenced by low investment in water sector and high land degradation. Khuzestan, Tehran and Isfahan, which have high levels of educational levels, income, access to water and sanitation and small portions of domestic/ industrial in total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), are relatively the least vulnerable provinces. Moreover, the extent to which these vulnerabilities are realized and may contribute to climate change is mostly linked with socio-economic development. The great differences in the results in terms of vulnerability suggest that politicians should provide region-specific guidelines priorities and assess vulnerability at sub-national scales. This paper presents an overview of the current status of susceptibility in Iran as well as suggesting some adaptation strategies for reducing future adverse effects.