Briefing note 03: strengthening climate change adaptation through effective disaster risk reduction

The purpose of this briefing note is to show that climate change adaptation relies on the reduction and management of climate-related disaster risks and why both need to become central to development planning and investment. It builds on empirical evidence that illustrates how climate risks are constructed and which risks can be reduced costeffectively. It also builds upon United Nations International Strategy (UNISDR)'s two previous briefing notes on climate change and disaster risk reduction and the large volume of literature published prior to and following the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nation Framework for Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen and the second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, both in 2009.

It is informed by the initial findings of the 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, the outcome of an online discussion of the Hyogo Framework for Action Mid-Term Review, and the large body of research being assessed in the forthcoming IPCC Special Report 'Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation'(SREX).