States with high exposure to climate hazards face multi-faceted challenges, including physical and livelihood
risks for the population that may force states to redirect scarce resources to adaptation or humanitarian
response efforts and strain the capacity of states that, in many cases, are still solidifying democratic
institutions and mechanisms for meeting public needs. Similarly, fragility can affect many aspects of a state’s
capacity and legitimacy across its political, economic, social, and security spheres.

When states face fragility and climate risks simultaneously, the risks and challenges are compounded. This
study seeks to identify the locations where fragility and climate risks co-occur around the world. Since
these places with compound fragility-climate risks may be more vulnerable to humanitarian emergencies
or instability, understanding the distinct fragility and climate challenges they face could present
opportunities and focal points for intervention.

This study examines highly fragile states with high exposure to multiple climate hazards. The reason for
this is straightforward: responding to high exposure to even a single hazard requires substantial resources,
infrastructure, and mobilization, yet a country that has high exposure to multiple hazards requires such
resources, infrastructure, and mobilization many times over to address each of these diverse hazards. For
a highly fragile state—for instance Burma, which faces substantial risks from both slow-onset hazards like
droughts and rapid-onset hazards like cyclones and coastal inundation—these diverse threats and required
responses can exceed state capacity and social capital.