Climate change is affecting disaster risk, with particular implications for the most vulnerable, especially in developing countries.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has embarked upon a Special Report "Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation". This IPCC report will summarize the existing knowledge on this topic, drawing on climate science, social science on impacts and adaptation, as well as well-documented practical experience. For further information, see
http://www.ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/extremes-sr/
Several humanitarian agencies have emerging experience on disaster risk management in the context of climate change, for instance on how to integrate information on changing climate risks into contingency planning, risk assessments and design of early warning systems. Other areas, including potential impacts on human displacement and migration, are in their infancy, but also getting increased attention. Some of these efforts have been documented in agency reports, but very little of this knowledge has found its way into the peer-reviewed literature.
In order to fill this gap and to inform not only the IPCC and climate policy processes, but also the wider community of humanitarian practitioners facing new risks in a changing climate, the academic journal Disasters has agreed to devote a Special Issue to this topic. Submissions would be subject to peer-review before being published (possibly in revised form) in the Special Issue.
The intention is to make the Special Issue freely available online, to the benefit of the wider humanitarian community, especially in developing countries.
We welcome submissions of abstracts by December 1, sent to [email protected]. The deadline for full articles is 27 January. Given space limitations in the Special Issue, we reserve the right to make a selection of the most interesting submissions. We will give preference to papers documenting field-based humanitarian practice over more theoretical or analytical submissions. Feel free to contact us for further information using the email above.