Climate Change and Local Level Disaster Risk Reduction Planning ...

affected by the economic circumstances and hence the economic circumstances must be taken
into consideration while making risk reduction recommendations.
Establishing climate change-proof disaster risk management mechanism is a form of anticipatory
adaptation mechanism. It is logical for governments to have such investments as they may have
to pay heavy price if further delayed or are done after the impacts were felt. Policy considerations
for anticipatory adaptation are yet to be seen in many countries. Very few available examples in
this area are the recommendations of the Public Advisory Forum of the American Water Works
Association (AWWA) which called all the water management professionals for review of design
assumptions, practices and contingency planning (Public Advisory Forum, 1997). Some of these
recommendations include both structural and non-structural measures. Economic implications of
anticipatory adaptation in disaster risk management are a major deterrent to adaptation itself for
many developing and underdeveloped countries. Haddad and Merrit (2001) described that the
least cost approaches may not work in deciding suitable climate change adaptation mechanisms
as yet times the outputs of public negotiations may not consider cost implications; for example,
when it comes to deciding between the priorities of a water storage structure for flood control
and reliable water supply. Hill and Thompson (2006) reported difference of opinion between
environmental managers and non-environmental managers about the need to integrate
environmental and economic goals in a “win-win” combination. If we consider the opinion of
non-environmental managers as that of those representing the ‘lay men’, it makes sense that the
lay people place least importance for economic solutions or those solutions that are going to
‘cost’ to them in some form. Significant studies are available for adaptation in agriculture which is
one of the climate vulnerable sectors. These studies consider farmers either as ‘dumb’ or
‘intelligent’ in the point of adaptation to climate related impacts and study how they adapt to it
(Schneider et al, 2000). Comparing societies on the scale of adaptation readiness and adaptation
capacities will be an interesting contribution to the disaster risk reduction. Such a comparison is
challenged by number of limitations such as absence of baseline information, different disaster
profiles and underlying needs, and even differential developmental contexts.
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