A study was conducted in the North East state of Para in Brazil. The study concluded in the last 25 years there was numerous evidence of natural impacts in the flood and erosion process. Strategies and measures of population adaptation have been implemented, but had limited success. In order to subsidize the Coastal Zone Management Program of Para, natural and socio-economic vulnerability of costal zone buy means of a Geographical Information System based composite coastal vulnerability index. In spite of the data problems and shortcomings, using ESRI's 3.2 program, the CVI score, to classify, weight and combine a number of 16 separate natural and socio-economic variables to create a single indicator provides a reliable measure of differences among regions and communities that are exposed to similar ranges of hazards. The results are presented in 3 maps referred to as Natural, Socioeconomic and Total Vulnerability. Resource: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40928754?s...