2.     Introduction

The introduction of the report will explain why a thematic assessment on Vulnerability is needed for Water, what it is about and how this report contributes to the process leading to the Blueprint.

Vulnerability in the context of this assessment is understood in the wider context of ecosystem assessment and ecosystem goods and services.

The more narrow vision where vulnerability is seen in relation to hazard and risk is only one part of this framework, which is a more holistic view on vulnerability.

The concept of vulnerability should depict the possible resilience of ecosystems and their ability to react to the driving forces affecting them. Vulnerability is seen as a function of the susceptibility of the receptors (the ecosystem as a whole of even broader the environment) and its value. Here value must not be seen in a strict monetary or economic sense, but as the value of a landscape or an ecosystem. The receptors are the environment, ecosystems, people affected, economic sectors and activities, etc.

Please see pdf document for Figure copied from FREEMAN project, CRUE ERA-Net