Abstract
Vulnerability and its causes vary considerably over space and time because some societies, age groups, regions, landscapes, and nations are predominantly more exposed to climate change. Therefore, an understanding of spatio-temporal patterns of present climates and its reliable projections is critical for getting better equipped and address the implications of climate change. Another important aspect of climate change mitigation and adaptation is formulation of locally relevant strategies. Exposure was conceptualized as the sum of the various elements of climate and hydro-meteorological hazards. The approach allowed us to frame a climate change exposure index integrating past and present. Exposure index has the potential to integrate different parameters representing climatic variability and associated hydro-meteorological hazards to guide preventive decision making. Hence, various such indicators have been integrated in a single index to calculate the degree of exposure to climatic variability. A positive relationship is established between climate change, hydro-meteorological hazards and exposure. We found that actually, out of fifteen, ten districts have high exposure to rainfall variability, residents of eight districts may suffer the consequences of landslides, six districts are prone to wind damages, five are exposed temperature variability, and five are exposed to flood events.