18 November 2009: The Secretariat of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) has released a briefing note titled “Adaptation to climate change by reducing disaster risks: country practices and lessons.” The note includes examples of recent experience where national and local governments, as well as civil society participants, have worked to strengthen their disaster risk reduction and adaptation actions.
The twelve-page briefing note includes case studies from India, Maldives, Peru, the Philippines, Samoa, South Africa, the UK and Viet Nam. These cases, along with similar experience in other countries, provide insights and lessons for climate change negotiators and policymakers, development planners, and managers and practitioners at national and local levels.
The briefing note offers six implementation tasks drawing on the lessons from the successful case studies. These lessons include the need for: mapping the institutions, policies and mechanisms already in place for reducing disaster risk and dealing with climate change adaptation; assessing information on hazards, exposure, vulnerabilities and risk assessments; convening multi-stakeholder dialogues; carrying out capacity-development activities to build or strengthen coherent approaches to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; designing joint project initiatives that address both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; and conducting adaptation planning with a multi-sectoral, development-based approach and centralized oversight responsibility.[UN/ISDR Briefing Note]