here we show that these countries are vulnerable to climate change using a physical vulnerability index that is independent of policies the idea of an assessment of physical vulnerability is consistent with common vulnerability frameworks as explained in guillaumont and simonet a and also with the srex conceptual framework but it involves making a systematic distinction between what is and what is not independent of a country s policy to be more accurate with the development challenges this section relies on a new index of physical vulnerability to climate change as presented by guillaumont and simonet a that has already been applied to differentiate african countries from other developing countries guillaumont and simonet lb the index qualifies the vulnerability of the ldcs and underlines the heterogeneity of the vulnerability among them