Co-Authors

• Larry W. Roeder, Jr., MS. Editor in Chief, ClimateCaucus.net Email:lroeder@climatecaucus.net

• Dr. David Stone, Director of ProAct Network, Geneva. Email david.stone@proactnetwork.org

• Marcus Oxley, Chair Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction. Email: Marcus.Oxley@tearfund.org L

This Report Section is on the linkages between disaster risk reduction and climate change. The section will be prepared and submitted by an NGO working group within the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction. Currently there are 550 members in the Network from over 300 organizations from 87 countries. The concept behind this Report Section is the result of preliminary discussions within the Global Network Steering group to ascertain if there was sufficient interest to take on this piece of work. Initial response from both northern and southern members indicated there is indeed strong interest in this subject matter - not least because 2/3rd of all natural disasters are climatic-related (i.e. floods, droughts, wind storms).

In many ways the continued upwards trend in disaster losses is the inevitable consequence of our failure to find solutions to current issues of environmental degradation including climate change. The proposed chapter is premised on the notion that DRR is an essential component of climate adaptation; the DRR community has accrued decades of experience and insight in building safer, more resilient communities that are better able to anticipate, resist, cope with and recover from climatic induced hazards. This experience and proven approaches, tools, methodologies and policy frameworks are directly relevant and transferable to climate adaptation work. It is envisaged the working group will have strong representation from both northern and southern members and where appropriate will have inputs from representatives of poor communities affected by increasing climate variability. .