Valeria Petrone-Mendoza , Paola Massyel García-Meneses , Manuel Maass , Alicia Castillo-Álvarez , María Zorrilla-Ramos

The concept of climate change vulnerability (CCV) has become an angular one for understanding the differential impacts of climate change (CC). It has evolved from multiple disciplines, leading to a diversity of conceptual frameworks. Particularly, in Mexico – where CCV research and practice have increased – such diversity has resulted in a lack of clarity on how to operationalize it, and limited replicability. In this context, this research aims to identify how CCV is conceptualized in Mexican policies and by practitioners, and to analyze if the socioecosystem perspective contributes to its integral comprehension and facilitates its operationalization. To do so, we developed: a) a content analysis of 27 CC Mexican policies; and b) interviews applied to 15 practitioners. Results show that two main conceptualizations of CCV are dominant: outcome vulnerability and contextual vulnerability, each being represented by an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework, the Fourth and the Fifth Assessment Reports (AR4 and AR5 respectively). Policies and interviewees present inconsistencies in the stated conceptual framework, definition, and components of CCV, which shows a limited understanding of the concept. Regarding the socioecosystem perspective, 44% of the policies adopt it, while only one practitioner incorporates the perspective into practice. We conclude that CCV global frameworks are not properly adopted in Mexico due to limited guidance for applying the theory into practice. Also, the existing frameworks do not reflect the complexity of CCV, and therefore, the use of socioecosystem approaches may lead to a better understanding.