Scientists predict that climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. More than half of the world’s population lives in areas with significant exposure to disasters caused by natural hazards and they will be affected. Suffering the most from disasters will be the poor who live in fragile areas and are least able to cope. Mainstreaming risk and vulnerability considerations into poverty reduction programs is critical, and policy makers and planners need to better understand the linkages between climate change and disaster risk reduction.

Against this background, the workshop provided a timely forum for discussions of the challenges that climate change, disaster risk and poverty reduction pose to the development process. The aim was also to arrive at a common understanding and a set of agreed practical measures in mainstreaming disaster risks and adaptation to climate change in country development strategies.

The workshop was organized jointly by the Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Sida), the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), and the World Bank under the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

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