A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

A selection of disaster reduction applications5The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)have joined forces to promote the use of environmental management and policy tools to reduce vulnerabilityof communities, especially the poor and marginalized, to the growing threat of climate change andclimate-related disasters. The project seeks to:• identify environmental actions that reduce the vulnerability of social and economic systems;• enhance the role of these activities by offering a tool kit of options with detailed examples of theirapplication to relevant actors in research, advocacy, policy-making and industry;• build the capacity of local institutions in regions and countries vulnerable to climate-related disastersto assess and respond to the environmental sources of vulnerability;• create a platform for integrating environmental management measures that reduce community vulnerabilityinto existing policy frameworks and international strategies on disasters mitigation, climatechange adaptation, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation.The initiative is guided by a task force on climate change, vulnerable communities and adaptation composedof a multidisciplinary group of experts from the fields of climate change, disaster reduction, sustainablelivelihoods and environmental management and policy. Working from different points of departure,members will explore how natural resource mismanagement contributes to the vulnerability ofhuman systems, and how enhanced management can provide tools for vulnerability reduction.It will produce the following:• case studies that improve the understanding of environmental factors which shape vulnerability toclimate-related disasters, and the options for adaptation within policy frameworks;• guidelines for reducing vulnerability to climate change and climate-related disasters using environmentalmanagement tools;• a network of institutions at the regional and national level with the capacity to assess and addressvulnerability to climate-related disasters.from a risk management approach, environmental/socialimpact assessment processesbeing traditionally geared towards identifyingrisks as early as possible and then addressingthem in the design phase of plans or projects.Furthermore, synergies might exist betweenresearch work on disaster reduction and on theintegration of environmental concerns intodecision-making and development planning.The IDNDR conclusion that “environmentalprotection, as a component of sustainabledevelopment and consistent with poverty alleviation,is imperative in the prevention andmitigation of natural disasters” needs to be putinto practice.Environmental management can become a costeffectivetool for disaster reduction while servingmany other objectives including conservation ofbiodiversity, mitigation of adverse global environmentalchanges and poverty alleviation.The protective role of some ecosystems aremore recognised than others and are begin-ning to be better documented. For example,important wetland functions include waterstorage, storm protection, flood mitigation,shoreline stabilization and erosion control.These functions are also essential for sustainabledevelopment. The value of these functionsare considerable as technical alternativesare often more expensive. However,benefits from wetlands are under threat fromnatural disasters including storms, droughtand floods which will be further exacerbatedby climate change.Wetlands also suffer from increased demandon agricultural land associated with populationgrowth, infrastructure development andriver flow regulations, invasion of alienspecies and pollution. The relationshipsbetween climate change and wetlandsdeserves more attention by policy makers.Adaptive capacities of ecosystems to absorbsudden shifts in climatic, geological or biologicalcomponents is a key feature increasingdisaster resilience. In this regard, traditional207