The past three decades have seen a global shift in disaster management from an event driven response to a ‘could-be’ risk management approach. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) has become entrenched as a dominant paradigm within the field of disaster management. More than a decade after adopting DRR legislation in South Africa there remains a dearth of evidence that this has translated into substantive action. This book examines the institutionalisation of DRR in South Africa, conceived of as a political economy of knowledge production. Using a critical theory approach, the book does not consider why DRR is failing but instead asks ‘why DRR?’ As such, it explores possibilities beyond DRR’s narrow optic and offers new insights into disaster management through the lens of South Africa. This is valuable reading for graduate students and academics working in disaster studies, geography, public policy and development/post-development studies, as well as policy makers.

This book is a pioneering regional work and provides a balanced approach of theory and practice in disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Pakistan. The book analytically discusses the status of DRR and draws examples and lessons from national and community-level programs and projects and events in the country. The book covers different types of disasters facing Pakistan, including geo-physical and hydro-meteorological hazards. This work incorporates and draws some of the key lessons learned from the pre-disaster and disaster phases to the post-disaster phase, providing an effective framework in the form of those lessons. The rich content is based on a selection of available documents, a consultative workshop with academicians from different universities undertaking DRR higher education programs, and the editors’ own knowledge and experience in the field. Special emphasis is given to analyzing field experiences from academic perspectives, and pinpointing key issues and the policy relevance of DRR. Disaster Risk Reduction Approaches in Pakistan is organized into three sections with a total of 20 chapters. Section one provides the outline and basics of DRR strategies applied at the national level with supporting examples from a global review. Section two specifically highlights the wide ranges of hazards experienced in Pakistan and presents examples, policy options, institutional set-ups, risk reduction strategies, and key lessons learned. The third section of the book is given to approaches and issues of DRR practices with examples of disaster responses.

This book brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from across the Asia Pacific region, covering four main sections: 1) Governance, 2) Education and Capacity, 3) Science, Technology, Risk Assessment and Communities, and 4) Recovery. The chapters address different dimensions of Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), which are linked to Sustainable Development Goals, as well as Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The Routledge Handbook of Disaster Risk Reduction Including Climate Change Adaptation aims to provide an overview and critique of the current state of knowledge, policy, and practice, encouraging engagement, and reflection on bringing the two sectors together. This long-awaited and welcomed volume makes a compelling case that a common research agenda and a series of practical policies and policy recommendations can and should be put in place. Over 40 contributions explore DRR including CCA in five parts. The first part presents and interrogates much of the typical vocabulary seen in DRR including CCA, not only pointing out the useful and not-so-useful dimensions, but also providing alternatives and positive examples. The second part explains how to move forward creating and supporting positive crossovers and connections, while the third one explores some aspects of multi-dimensional approaches to knowing and understanding. The fourth part argues for a balanced approach to governance, taking both governmental and non-governmental governance, as well as different scales of governance, into consideration. The final part of the Handbook emphasises DRR including CCA as an investment, rather than a cost, and connects its further implementation with livelihoods of people around the world. This handbook highlights the connections amongst the processes of dealing with disasters and dealing with climate change. It demonstrates how little climate change brings which is new and emphasises the strengths of placing climate change within wider contexts in order to draw on all our strengths while overcoming limitations with specialities. It will prove to be a valuable guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, academics, policy makers, and practitioners with an interest in disaster risk reduction and climate change.

This report aims to highlight the current strengths of the institutional disaster risk reduction (DRR) system for agriculture in the Republic of Moldova as well as indicate existing gaps and capacity needs to further enhance it. A comprehensive assessment is conducted, which includes a general overview of the country’s agricultural sector and outlines the most frequent natural hazards that are impacting the sector. It is followed by an analysis of the existing legal, policy and institutional structure and discusses various components of the system, including the functioning of early warning systems, assessments of disaster risks, post-disaster needs assessments, including damages and losses assessments and the availability of agricultural insurance for farmers. It concludes by providing recommendations for capacity building interventions to strengthen the current system to reduce the adverse impacts of natural hazards, in particular, floods, landslides and droughts, and climate change on agriculture in the Republic of Moldova.

This book is a unique, transdisciplinary summary of the state of the art of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in Indonesia. It provides a comprehensive overview of disaster risk governance across all levels and multiple actors including diverse perspectives from practitioners and researchers on the challenges and progress of DRR in Indonesia. The book includes novel and emerging topics such as the role of culture, religion, psychology and the media in DRR. It is essential reading for students, researchers, and policy makers seeking to understand the nature and variety of environmental hazards and risk patterns affecting Indonesia. Following the introduction, the book has four main parts of key discussions. Part I presents disaster risk governance from national to local level and its integration into development sectors, Part II focuses on the roles of different actors for DRR, Part III discusses emerging issues in DRR research and practice, and Part IV puts forward variety of methods and studies to measure hazards, risks and community resilience.

This book documents the First World Landslide Forum, which was jointly organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), eight UN organizations (UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UN/ISDR, UNU, UNEP, World Bank, UNDP) and four NGOs (International Council for Science, World Federation of Engineering Organizations, Kyoto Univ. and Japan Landslide Society) in Tokyo in 2008. The material consists of four parts: The Open Forum "Progress of IPL Activities; Four Thematic Lectures in the Plenary Symposium "Global Landslide Risk Reduction"; Six Keynote Lectures in the Plenary session; and the aims and overviews of eighteen parallel sessions (dealing with various aspects necessary for landslide disaster risk reduction such as: observations from space; climate change and slope instability; landslides threatening heritage sites; the economic and social impact of landslides; monitoring, prediction and early warning; and risk-management strategies in urban area, etc.) Thus it enables the reader to benefit from a wide range of research intended to reduce risk due to landslide disasters as presented in the first global multi-disciplinary meeting.

This book is part of a six-volume series on Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience. The series aims to fill in gaps in theory and practice in the Sendai Framework, and provides additional resources, methodologies and communication strategies to enhance the plan for action and targets proposed by the Sendai Framework. The series will appeal to a broad range of researchers, academics, students, policy makers and practitioners in engineering, environmental science and geography, geoscience, emergency management, finance, community adaptation, atmospheric science and information technology. This volume offers the international guidelines and global standards for resilient disaster risk reduction and lessons learned from disasters, particularly the COVID-19 and Cholera pandemics. A resilient health system and an effective disaster risk management Index are then suggested. The book further emphasizes urban resilience strategies with local authorities, adaptation strategies for urban heat at regional, city and local scales, and lessons from community-level interventions. Also addressed are coastal erosion, displacement and resettlement strategies. Land use planning and green infrastructure are suggested as tools for natural hazards reduction. Human security in times of climate change and urban heat at regional, city and local scales is discussed for an integrated action, with case studies based in Manila, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, India, Spain, and Ghana. Structure design for cascading disasters resulting from mining and flooding is presented and sustainable smart city planning using spatial data is recommended.

Building upon presentations given during the conference on ‘Disaster Risk Reduction for Natural Hazards: Putting Research into Practice’, held at University College London in November 2009, the articles collected in this book examine how natural hazards research is accessed and used by practitioners and decision-makers, and conversely, how policy and practice inform research. As with the conference, this book successfully brings together views from humanitarian and development agencies, academia, business, government and funding bodies. It is rare to engage such a wide range of sectors in a discussion relating to the issues of disaster risk reduction from a natural hazards perspective, and the book captures this interaction and the resultant exchange of ideas, thus providing an insight into how stakeholders respectively undertake or engage with natural hazards research. Collectively, the articles highlight the need for greater dialogue, understanding and collaboration between all these sectors if research is to be made relevant and generate significant impact on risk reduction policy and practice. There is an urgent requirement to better understand the respective needs, ways of working, project timescales and funding mechanisms for disaster risk reduction, as well as the challenges posed by institutional and organizational structures and functions. These issues must be overcome to ensure that ultimately, and most significantly, discussions turn into positive practical actions so that research on natural hazards is relevant and applicable. The book represents a step in that journey. This book was published as a special issue of Environmental Hazards.

Climate change is increasingly of great concern to the world community. The earth has witnessed the buildup of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, changes in biodiversity, and more occurrences of natural disasters. Recently, scientists have begun to shift their emphasis away from curbing carbon dioxide emission to adapting to carbon dioxide emission. The increase in natural disasters around the world is unprecedented in earth's history and these disasters are often associated to climate changes. Many nations along the coastal lines are threatened by massive floods and tsunamis. Earthquakes are increasing in intensity and erosion and droughts are problems in many parts of the developing countries. This book is therefore to investigate ways to prepare and effectively manage these disasters and possibly reduce their impacts. The focus is on mitigation strategies and policies that will help to reduce the impacts of natural disasters. The book takes an in-depth look at climate change and its association to socio-economic development and cultures especially in vulnerable communities; and investigates how communities can develop resilience to disasters. A balanced and a multiple perspective approach to manage the risks associated with natural disasters is offered by engaging authors from the entire globe to proffer solutions.