The Vulnerability, Consequences, and Adaptation Planning Scenarios (VCAPS) process supports planning by local decision makers concerned about coastal management, climate change vulnerability, and adaptation. Using the process can help communities become more resilient to weather and climate change.

A VCAPS meeting.

During the VCAPS process, community members:

• Engage in dialogue about future weather and climate threats.
• Summarize and integrate local knowledge and experience about how the community will be impacted.
• Identify gaps in data, knowledge, or understanding.
• Think strategically about how to prevent harm by taking action in both the short and long term.

The building blocks of a VCAPS diagram.

VCAPS builds on concepts of hazard management and vulnerability and uses participatory modeling techniques to organize and document dialogue and learning. Local knowledge and experience is integrated with scientific knowledge. The process is flexible and can be fine-tuned to the interests of participants.

The website contains a description of the process, examples of it being used in communities, links to major publications about VCAPS, and the contact information of experts who can facilitate the process.