IPCC_Managing Risks of Extreme Events.pdf - Climate Access

Chapter 5Managing the Risks from Climate Extremes at the Local Levelafter a disaster. Under certain conditions such tools can provide disincentives for reducing disaster risk at the locallevel through the transfer of the risk spatially (to other places) or temporally (to the future). [5.6.3]Local participation supports community-based adaptation to benefit management of disaster risk andclimate extremes (medium agreement, medium evidence). However, improvements in the availability of humanand financial capital and of disaster risk and climate information customized for local stakeholders can enhancecommunity-based adaptation. [5.6]Data on natural disasters and disaster risk reduction are lacking at the local level, which can constrainimprovements in local vulnerability reduction (high agreement, medium evidence). This is the case in all areasbut especially so in developing countries. Local knowledge systems are often neglected in disaster risk management.There is considerable potential for adapting geographic information systems to include local-level knowledge to supportdisaster management activities. [5.7]Disaster loss estimates are inconsistent and highly dependent on the scale of the analysis, and result inwide variations among community, state, province, and sub-national regions (high agreement, robustevidence). Indirect losses are increasingly taken into account as significant factors in precipitating negative economicimpacts. Adaptation costs, though hard to estimate, can be reduced if climate change adaptation is integrated intoexisting disaster risk management and disaster risk management is in turn embedded in development strategies anddecisionmaking. [5.5]Mainstreaming disaster risk management into policies and practices provides key lessons that apply toclimate change adaptation at the local level (high agreement, medium evidence). Addressing social welfare,quality of life, infrastructure, and livelihoods, and incorporating a multi-hazards approach into planning and action fordisasters in the short term, facilitates adaptation to climate extremes in the longer term. [5.4, 5.5, 5.6]The main challenge for local adaptation to climate extremes is to apply a balanced portfolio of approachesas a one-size-fits-all strategy may prove limiting for some places and stakeholders (high confidence,medium evidence). Successful measures simultaneously address fundamental issues related to the enhancement oflocal collective actions, and the creation of approaches at national and international scales that complement, support,and legitimize such local actions. [5.4, 5.6]295