Considering insurance in reducing disaster risk and advancing adaptation Authors: K. Warner; N. Ranger; S. Surminski / Publisher: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), 2010
Development gains are increasingly at risk from climate change among other pressures. Adverse changes are already being observed in the amount, intensity, frequency and type of precipitation, resulting in drought, floods and tropical storms. Climate change threatens to undermine poorer countries to absorb loss and recover from disaster impacts.
Long-established customs, traditional beliefs and behaviour dictated by gender, ethnicity, caste and age - all these can stop people getting to grips with the challenges of climate change. But this has yet to be well recognised or investigated, says a paper released this month by the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
The most commonly discussed “barriers” to coping with weather disasters and longer-term climate shifts tend to be gaps in technology (for example, lack of accurate climate modeling), low awareness among policy makers, or shortfalls in funding.
