Description

- The conditions in which disaster risk reduction are being pursued are changing. Global climate change affects the frequency and intensity of climate-related hazards while also affecting the resilience and safety of communities, particularly the poorest communities, around the world. These vulnerabilities are further aggravated by other significant changes such as continued decline of ecosystem services and increasing urbanization. The result is that communities suffer loss of life, injury and other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, and environmental damage. Robust capacity to reduce risk to today’s extreme events is an essential building block of adaptive capacity in the long run.

- Measures to reduce disaster risk must reflect changing patterns of climate-related hazards and vulnerability associated with these dynamic processes. Increased attention to issues of urbanization and urban governance on the one hand and the protection of ecosystem services and diversification of rural livelihoods on the other must be central to our efforts to reduce risk. The strengthening of community, national and international disaster preparedness is also needed in order to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current climate events or conditions. In this context, a multi-hazard, multi-stakeholder approach that builds on existing mechanisms and the internationally agreed Hyogo Framework for Action is essential.

- This year marks an important turning point. Negotiations among the world’s governments culminating at UNFCCC COP-15 in December are expected to result in new agreements to address climate change. This year’s Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction marks an important milestone along the way. The climate change negotiations offer an opportunity to strengthen commitment to achieving the goals of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

Goal

- The overall goal of the high-level panel will be to highlight the practical linkages between disaster risk reduction and climate change, in light of the Global Assessment Report and experiences from the field, and to outline specific steps that can be taken over the course of the year to strengthen the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in both policy and practice.

Background Papers

Presentations