RISK

REDUCTION IN
THE BACKDROP
OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
We cannot stop natural disasters but
we can arm ourselves with
knowledge:
so many lives and livelihoods across
the World wouldn't have to be lost if
there was
Enough Disaster Preparedness.
 Risk is generally defined as the chance of loss; it is a
combination of hazard and sensitivity to harmful effects.
 From a disaster management perspective, risk can be
defined as the likelihood of harmful consequences
arising from the interaction of hazards, community and
the environment
Risk = Hazard X Vulnerability
Capacity
 IN SIMPLE WORDS: The probability of harmful
consequences, or expected losses (deaths, injuries,
disabilities, psycho social trauma, property,
livelihoods, economic activity disrupted or
environment damaged) resulting from interactions
between natural or human-induced hazards and
vulnerable conditions.
 DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
 As defined by UNISDR “Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
aims to reduce the damage caused by natural hazards
like earthquakes, floods, droughts and cyclones,
through an ethic of prevention.”
 It is the concept and practice of reducing disaster risks
through systematic efforts to analyze, manage and
reduce the causal factors of disasters.
 Examples of disaster risk reduction:

 Reducing exposure to hazards

 lessening vulnerability of people and property
 wise management of land and the environment
 Improving preparedness and early warning for
adverse events
 DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IS ABOUT
CHOICES
 A disaster's severity depends on how much impact a
hazard has on society and the environment

 The scale of the impact in turn depends on the choices

we make for our lives and for our environment. These
choices relate to where and how we build our homes,
what kind of government we have, how our financial
system works and even what we teach in schools

 Each decision and action makes us more vulnerable to

disasters - or more resilient to them.
DISASTER RISKS FACED BY PAKISTAN
EARTHQUAKES
GOAL: REDUCE
DISASTER RISK FLOODS

CYCLONES
DEVELOP POLICIES FOR
ACTIONS HAVING HIGH LANDSLIDES
BENEFIT/COST FOR
PAKISTAN
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

DROUGHT
And Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)
 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION (CCA),
 Climate change Adaptation (CCA), is the adjustment in
natural and human system in response to actual or
expected stimuli or their effects which moderates harm or
exploits beneficial opportunities. (UNISDR)

 Adaptation to global warming is a response to climate

change that seeks to reduce the vulnerability of
biological systems to climate change effects. Even if
emissions are stabilized relatively soon, climate change
and its effects will last many years, and adaptation will
be necessary. (Web definition)
 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
 Humans have been adapting to
their environments throughout
history by developing practices,
cultures and livelihoods suited to
local conditions

 However, climate change raises

the possibility that existing
societies will experience climatic
shifts (in temperature, storm
frequency, flooding and other
factors) that previous experience
has not prepared them for.
 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
 Adaptation measures may be planned in advance in
response to a local pressure. They include large-scale
infrastructure changes ; such as
 building defenses to protect against sea-level rise
 Improving the quality of road surfaces to
withstand hotter temperatures
 Behavioral shifts such as individuals using less
water, farmers planting different crops
 Including disaster risk reduction in curricula
 Preparing communities to handle such situations
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION(CCA)
 There are two main policy responses to climate
change:
 Mitigation and Adaptation

 Mitigation addresses the root causes, by reducing

greenhouse gas emissions
 Adaptation seeks to lower the risks posed by the
consequences of climatic changes.
 Both approaches are necessary, because even if
emissions are dramatically decreased in the next
decade, adaptation will still be needed to deal
with the global changes that have already been
set in motion.
 CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION(CCA)
 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), a United Nations body, founded in 1988, to
evaluate climate change science, describes
vulnerability to climate change as being determined by
three factors:
 exposure to hazards (such as reduced rainfall)
 sensitivity to those hazards (such as an economy dominated
by rain-fed agriculture)
 the capacity to adapt to those hazards (for example, whether
farmers have the money or skills to grow more drought-
resistant crops).
 Adaptation measures can help reduce vulnerability –
for example by lowering sensitivity or building
adaptive capacity – as well as allowing populations to
benefit from opportunities of climatic changes, such as
 Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate
Change Adaptation
Climate change will affect disaster risks in two
ways:
 Firstly through the likely increase in weather and
climate related hazards
 Secondly through increases in the vulnerability of
communities to natural hazards, particularly
through ecosystem degradation, reductions in
water and food availability, changes to livelihoods,
and rapid unplanned urban growth.
 Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change
Adaptation
Disaster risk reduction and
adaptation to climate change
share the same ultimate goal of
reducing vulnerability to
weather and climate related
hazards.

Natural hazards by themselves are

not disasters – it is the
combination of an exposed,
vulnerable and ill-prepared
population or community with a
hazard event that results in a
disaster.
PROCESS OF DISASTER RISK
REDUCTION
 WAY FORWARD
Risk Reduction is:
•Pre-disaster

•Pre-emptive

•Part of development
• Risk Reduction is
done through Risk
Management
– Response
– Recovery
– Mitigation
– Preparedness
 WAY FORWARD
Strategic Areas of Intervention
1. Increased political commitment to disaster risk
reduction.
2. Improved identification and assessment of disaster
risks.
3. Increased public awareness of disaster risk reduction.

4. Improved governance of disaster risk reduction

institutions.
5. Integration of disaster risk reduction in emergency
response management.
6. Overall coordination and monitoring of the
implementation of the Strategy.
7. It is also about commitments related to disaster and
vulnerability reduction and improved early warning
THANK
YOU