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07 October 2022

Rethinking climate-security narratives: integrating systemic disaster risk management in development

Research reports

Written by Nick Brooks, Sarah Opitz-Stapleton, Gabrielle Daoust, Guy Jobbins, Leigh Mayhew

Disaster relief to city of Jeremie in Haiti. UN Photo/Logan Abassi CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Key Messages

Dominant climate and disaster security narratives are based on limited evidence. Despite limited evidence, such narratives have a strong policy influence.
The drivers of fragility and conflict are simultaneously drivers of vulnerability to climate change and disasters. These drivers are rooted in socioeconomic and political factors such as poor governance, inequality and poverty. Conflict increases vulnerability, but increasing vulnerability does not always lead to greater fragility or more conflict.
Dominant climate and security narratives tend to emphasise the hazard component of risk and ignore structural and proximate drivers of fragility and vulnerability. When these drivers are ignored, development, climate change, humanitarian and other policies and programmes can increase fragility, vulnerability and conflict risk.
Transformative, just and integrated ‘all-hazard’ approaches to systemic risk management are required in development, humanitarian and other policies and programmes.

Partners

Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationala Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Authors