Disaster risk reduction
- How could better communication improve disaster risk management?
- This paper examines the links and disparities between disaster risk management and climate adaptation, including opportunities and barriers for collaboration. It finds that risk management must take place within the development context, although admitting that there are institutional, political and financial limitations to achieving this. The authors conclude that a multi-hazard approach would allow for a more comprehensive accounting of risks.
Although climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction have different histories, there is a growing realisation that they share similar agendas and have common theoretical and methodological components. For example, both are focused on reducing the vulnerability of marginalised communities through participatory development approaches, often using a livelihoods perspective.
Additionally, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation have complementary strengths and weaknesses, highlighting the value of exploring closer ties between each approach. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change provides a stronger legal instrument compared with the Hyogo Framework for Action: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. Disaster risk reduction, however, has an established tradition of working with communities and using vulnerability-focused methodologies. There is a growing recognition in the climate change community that adaptation work has to become more participatory and centred on communities needs and priorities.
One of the challenges facing both climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction is to discover how climate science can effectively be incorporated in to participatory vulnerability assessments. This suite of methods struggles to integrate external knowledge, which does not have a place in community memory.
More on disaster risk reduction : the complete listings from Eldis
