What progress has been made in the convergence of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA)? What are the obstacles to further integration? This assessment identifies pockets and trajectories of integration that promise improved development outcomes. However, it also finds continued separation of DRR, CCA and development in some geographic areas and significant structural barriers to convergence in critical institutions at different scales.
There is a considerable overlap of concepts and goals between DRR and CCA. The main overlap is the management of hydro-meteorological hazards, where DRR needs to take account of changing hazards and adaptation needs to build resilience to their impacts. However, DRR tackles the risks of geophysical hazards (like volcanoes and earthquakes), whereas adaptation does not. Adaptation considers long-term adjustment to changes in mean climatic conditions, including any associated opportunities, whereas DRR is predominantly interested in extremes.
The overlapping objectives of CCA and DRR are increasingly reflected in international agreements, government statements and policies, and in joint activities. Convergence remains limited, however, jeopardising policy coherence and the effective use of resources. Continued separation means administrative inefficiencies, duplication and damaging competition.
- The 2009 OECD DAC policy guidelines on adaptation highlight the need for DRR and CCA convergence at national levels to integrate climate change adaptation into development cooperation. Similarly, the World Bank’s Strategic Framework on Climate Change and Development includes a commitment to integrate disaster risk management and adaptation.
- Few bilateral or multilateral donors have integrated their support for DRR and CCA. DDR is often funded and coordinated by humanitarian aid departments and CCA by environmental departments.
- While several countries have initiated DRR-CCA links in policy and institutional terms, challenges remain.
- There has been improved sharing of DRR and CCA tools to increase learning and reduce duplication, but the web portals are often poorly organised.
- Some humanitarian organisations, such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent, have started to integrate climate information more systematically into their operations, and have suggested a strong role for DRR in climate adaptation frameworks.
What are the obstacles to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation convergence?
- In international policy processes: The incorporation of DRR into UNFCCC decision texts on adaptation has been ad hoc. Key donor governments and institutions are still struggling to ensure good communication and collaboration between their own disaster management and climate change departments, and may also be seeking to avoid expensive humanitarian commitments in dealing with human-induced climate change.
- In multilateral and bilateral institutions: Adaptation and DRR commonly reside in different parts of the organisation (and may be managed from different locations).
- In financing mechanisms: DRR actors must demonstrate ‘additionality’ in order to access multilateral adaptation funding – that changes in climate are being addressed, rather than just current climate variability. Within regular development financing, both adaptation and DRR lack strong demand from recipient countries and are often perceived as donor interests.
- In national-level integration: Even countries with strong DRR mechanisms and political commitment towards integrated efforts lack financial support and appropriate processes, frameworks and programme guidelines for policy integration.
- In knowledge sharing: There are separate communities of policymakers, practitioners and researchers working on DRR and CCA, with limited overlap in networks, meetings, methods or tools. The two communities also use different words for similar issues.
Despite the obstacles, there are significant opportunities for continued integration of DDR and CCA and for shared learning. From the climate change perspective, many have realised the need for a pragmatic focus on concrete, tangible outcomes and on mainstreaming DRR and CCA into development. In addition, pressure on global aid budgets has increased the need to integrate risk management into regular development policy and practice. From both perspectives, the convergence agenda is an obvious way forward and is already reflected in a growing body of emerging plans and projects. Greater convergence of adaptation and DRR should start with reorganisation within organisations. In stimulating better risk management, donors should build on existing capacities:
- This may mean working with well-functioning DRR mechanisms integrated in sectoral planning.
- Where DRR infrastructure is weak, institutions coordinating adaptation funding could be used as entry points for better DRR.
- Where political will for the joint agenda is strong, top-down integration of both agendas may be possible.
