Disaster Risk Reduction
Climate change is already leading to an increase in natural disasters. At present 70% of disasters are climate-related and this percentage is increasing. A recent report for the UN Secretary General states that ‘the number of climate related events, such as floods, hurricanes and droughts, has increased dramatically over the last 20 years’ (UN A/62/323, Sept 2007)
Reducing people’s vulnerability to disasters will become increasingly important in the coming years, to reduce the impacts of such disasters before they occur, rather than having to respond to disasters once they have caused widespread devastation.
UN Secretary General Ban Lei Moon recently stated that “Disaster Risk Reduction is our frontline defence against the impact of climate change” (June 2007)
World Vision is working with communities to reduce the risks of disasters through disaster early warning systems, measures to reduce hazards through better environmental management, and by strengthening communities’ capacity to cope with disasters.
not just an environmental issue
‘Climate change is not just an environmental issue, as too many people still believe. It is an all-encompassing threat. It is a threat to health, since a warmer world is one in which infectious diseases such as malaria and yellow fever will spread further and faster. It could imperil the world’s food supply, as rising temperatures and prolonged drought render fertile areas unfit for grazing or crops. It could endanger the very ground on which nearly half the world’s population live…which face inundation from sea levels rising as a result of inciting icecaps and glaciers’.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the UN