Disaster Risk Reduction

Disaster Risk Management in the Face of Climate Change

Climate-related shocks and stressors are occurring with increasing frequency around the globe. These disaster events often diminish ecological safeguards that can protect vulnerable communities. Recurrent droughts, changing precipitation patterns, more intense storms and rising temperatures and sea levels can create new risks. These disaster events also exacerbate existing social, economic and environmental pressures like urbanization, land use change and environmental degradation. Weather and climate can have profound impacts across sectors and undermine current and future progress toward development goals, such as food and water security, improved health, biodiversity and economic growth.

Good planning paired with ecological action can support disaster resilience by anticipating and preparing for both current and projected changes in weather and climate. Climate adaptation enables people, communities and systems to better manage climate and disaster risk, supporting efforts to reduce poverty and foster inclusive growth.  

Climate Change and Natural Disasters: Interrupting the Cycle

Climate change is closely intertwined with the intensifying perils of disasters. USAID and the broader international development community understand that disaster risk management requires a multipronged approach that accounts for the ecological and social complexities of each disaster’s context.

The following are examples of areas show that promise for disaster risk reduction in vulnerable communities:

• Improve early warning systems (EWSs). EWSs warn people about hazards, ideally with enough lead time to help vulnerable populations avoid catastrophic consequences. Increasingly “people-centered” EWSs prioritize the needs of vulnerable populations by building relevant, accessible warning messages around the actions endangered people must take to stay safe. Assessing and improving warning systems based on lessons learned can also help to optimize EWSs in a people-centered way.
• Understand social dynamics. Different groups face different consequences during and after a disaster. Taking gender as an example, women in developing countries are more vulnerable to natural disasters than their male counterparts because it is harder for women to access shelter, transportation and information on preparedness. Girls may be at risk of prematurely leaving school if a disaster affects their families’ ability to afford tuition. Boys may be at risk of prematurely leaving school if their families feel that they need their sons’ labor. To achieve disaster resilience, communities must consider differences that make disasters uniquely harmful to certain groups and certain individuals.
• Incorporate climate risk management (CRM) into development activities. USAID requires the design of new strategies, projects and activities to take climate-related risks into account. Where climate risks are moderate or high, further analyses can reveal opportunities for mitigation — for example, responding to the risk of drought in an agriculture program by incorporating drought-resistant, climate-smart agriculture practices, such as crop diversification.
• Prepare for shocks and stressors in vulnerable communities. Shocks are “external, short-term deviations from long-term trends,” such as disasters, that cause harm to people and communities. In the past, international development practitioners responded to shocks after the fact with humanitarian aid. Today, a better approach is emerging: (1) anticipate shocks in regions that are vulnerable to recurrent crises, (2) help vulnerable communities build the capacity to withstand shocks before they happen and (3) make preemptive plans to disperse aid so that valuable time will not be lost in the event of a crisis.