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Justin Ginnetti
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Disaster risk and climate change

Children in Bangladesh following Cyclone Sidr Photo by Shawn Ahmed

Since 1975, disasters have claimed the lives of more than 2.2 million people. Storms, floods, droughts, heat waves and other weather-related phenomena are responsible for two thirds of the fatalities and economic losses from disasters (UNISDR 2009 Global Assessment Report).

Natural hazards by themselves do not cause disasters. It is the combination of an exposed, vulnerable and ill-prepared population with a hazard event that results in a disaster. Climate change increases disaster risks in two ways. First, climate change will likely increase the frequency and/or severity of weather and climate hazards (IPCC Fourth Assessment Report). Second, climate change will simultaneously increase communities’ vulnerability to natural hazards due to the combined effects of ecosystem degradation, reduced availability of water for ecosystems and agriculture, and changes in peoples’ livelihoods.

This new configuration of weather-related hazards, coupled with processes like sea-level rise and rapidly expanding coastal cities, will lead to more disasters in future—unless prompt action is taken to reduce disaster risk. Governments can reduce this risk by:

• assessing and reducing vulnerability to existing weather and climate hazards,
• incorporating disaster risk reduction into national adaptation and development plans, and
• strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacity of the most at-risk communities

In recognition of the links between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has undertaken a Special Report on “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation.” This report, due out in 2011, will help policy-makers evaluate options for reducing disaster risks related to climate change. The Special Report will also be included in the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report.

Disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation share common goals: reducing the vulnerability of communities and achieving sustainable development. Governments have recognized the importance of coordinating their climate change adaptation plans with disaster risk reduction measures. They also recognize that these policies should be incorporated into their development and poverty eradication programmes.

The ISDR secretariat supports these efforts in three areas:

1. Achieving recognition, understanding and the development of specific policies at the international level on the synergies between reducing disaster risk and responding to climate change,
2. Mobilizing, guiding and facilitating action at national and regional levels to integrate disaster reduction and climate change policies and practice, and
3. Strengthening the capacities of the ISDR system to support the integration of disaster reduction and climate change by all actors.