Formally established in 2008, the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) is a global alliance of UN agencies, NGOs and specialist institutes. As a global thematic platform of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), PEDRR seeks to promote and scale-up implementation of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and ensure it is mainstreamed in development planning at global, national and local levels, in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action.
It provides technical and science-based expertise and applies best practices in ecosystems-based DRR approaches. PEDRR is guided by its vision of: “Resilient communities as a result of improved ecosystem management for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA)”. Its objective is to pool expertise and advocate for policy change and best practice in ecosystem management for DRR and CCA, based on science and practitioners experiences.
Understanding Environment, Livelihoods and Disaster Linkages
Ecosystems, Livelihoods and Disasters
Ecosystem management is an integral part of disaster risk reduction.
Disasters due to natural hazards, such as tropical cyclones, avalanches and wildfires, can have adverse environmental consequences. On the other hand, degraded environments can cause or exacerbate the negative impacts of disasters.
Healthy and well-managed ecosystems- such as coral reefs, mangroves, forests and wetlands- reduce disaster risk by acting as natural buffers or protective barriers, for instance through flood and landslide mitigation and water filtration and absorption. At the same time, fully-functioning ecosystems build local resilience against disasters by sustaining livelihoods and providing important products to local populations.
Climate change
According to the latest Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) released in 2012, climate change will magnify existing vulnerabilities to disasters due to changing patterns of some hazards (such as heat waves and increased precipitation) in specific regions and due to increased population exposure and land-use changes. Maintaining and enhancing ecosystems for natural hazard mitigation and disaster prevention can strengthen local adaptation capacities to counter the effects of climate-related risk.
Adopting an integrated approach to ecosystem management for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation is therefore the way forward. Incorporating the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an overall strategy to help people adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change is the basis of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA).
Call for Proposals:
CTI PFAN Pilot Programme for Financing Adaptation related Climate Change Projects seeks to identify promising projects which have the capability of raising private sector financing.