UNU World Risk Report 2012 2012 PDF

Focus: Environmental degradation and disasters
In cooperation with
WorldRiskReport
2012
UNU-EHS
Institute for Environment
and Human Security
Together for people in need.
WorldRiskReport 2012
1. Disaster risk, environmental degradation and global sustainability policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Peter Mucke
2. WorldRiskIndex 2012: Concept, updating and results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Torsten Welle, Jrn Birkmann, Jakob Rhyner, Maximilian Witting, Jan Wolfertz
2.1 Concept and structure of the WorldRiskIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.2 Updating and modifying the indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 Risk assessment at global level for 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3. Focus: Environmental degradation and disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.1 Environmental degradation as a risk factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Torsten Welle, Michael W. Beck, Peter Mucke
3.2 Coastal Habitats and Risk Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Michael W. Beck, Christine C. Shepard
3.3 Agrofuels, land-grabbing and landslides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Katja Maurer
3.4 Environmental degradation, poverty and disaster risk

on the international development agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Jens Martens
4. Disaster risk reduction a key element of global sustainability policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Peter Mucke, Jens Martens, Katrin Radtke
Annex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
WorldRiskReport 2012 ] 3
4 [ WorldRiskReport 2012
1. Disaster risk, environmental

degradation and global
sustainability policy
Peter Mucke
When the full force of nature hits human settlements, this can have
disastrous results: The lives of countless people are threatened,
and through the destruction of buildings and infrastructure,
progress made over years of development is destroyed in many
countries. However, it is not alone the strength of a natural event
that determines the extent of harm and damages. The risk a country
runs of becoming a victim depends crucially on social, economic
and institutional factors in a nutshell, the condition of society
within that country. The WorldRiskReport 2012 has devoted its
focus to a significant driver of disasters: the worldwide increase in
environmental degradation.
uman intervention in the global ecosystem

raises the threat and increases the extent
of disasters ensuing from extreme natural
events. More and more people in all parts
of the world are exposed to floods, drought,
earthquakes and cyclones. In the decade of
2002-2011, 4,130 disasters were recorded
worldwide. More than a million people
became victims of them, and economic
damages amounted to at least USD 1.195
billion. A total of 302 such disasters occurred
alone in 2011, affecting more than 200 million
people and causing economic damage of an
estimated USD 366 billion (UNISDR 2012).
The tendency is on the rise.
a natural event turns into a disaster depends

on the strength of the hazard as well as on
the vulnerability of the people. Vulnerability
develops through high susceptibility, a lack
of coping capacities and a lack of adaptive
capacities. It is this core understanding that
forms the basis of the WorldRiskIndex, which
gives the probability with which a country
or a region will be hit by a disaster (Alliance
Development Works 2011). Four components
characterize this basic notion, and they are put
into concrete terms by five categories each. In
turn, the four components are mathematically
combined as modules, thus forming the
WorldRiskIndex (see Figure 1).
So far, people have rarely been the direct

trigger of such disasters. But with their
devastating interventions in nature, they
have massively raised the hazard potential.
The destruction of mangrove forests and
coral reefs, for example off the coasts of
Southeast Asia, has reduced protection
against tidal waves and flooding. The clearcutting of mountain forests exacerbates soil
erosion and thus, as in Pakistan, the extent
of floods. Climate change and the more
frequent occurrence of climate extremes
are permanently aggravating the hazard
situation and increasing vulnerability (IPCC
2012a). The United Nations Secretariat
notes: Environmental degradation and
climate change contribute to the increasing
occurrence of disasters linked to natural
hazards. (UN DESA 2011)
The WorldRiskIndex seeks answers to the

following questions:
Additionally, there is an increasing danger

of natural disasters being directly triggered
by human action or uncontrollable high
technology. The nuclear super MCA of
Fukushima in March 2011 is the most obvious
example of this. Increasingly discussed
proposals to permanently manipulate the
climate by technological interventions in
the shape of geo-engineering bear a new
dimension of incalculable risks for humans
and for nature (ETC Group 2010). Whether
+ How probable is an extreme natural event,

and will it affect people?
+ How vulnerable are the people to the natural
hazards?
+ To what extent can societies cope with acute
disasters?
+ Is a society taking preventive measures to
face natural hazards to be reckoned with in
the future?
The concept of the WorldRiskIndex, with
its modular structure, was developed jointly
by scientists and development experts. The
calculation of the Index, which the United
Nations University Institute for Environment
and Human Security, Bonn (UNU-EHS), has
been commissioned to perform by Alliance
Development Works, is carried out via the
four components:
+ Exposure towards natural hazards such as
earthquakes, cyclones, flooding, drought and
sea level rise
+ susceptibility depending on infrastructure,
nutrition, housing situation and economic
framework conditions
+ coping capacities depending on governance,
disaster preparedness and early warning,
Natural hazard sphere
Vulnerability Societal sphere
Exposure
Susceptibility
Coping
Adaptation
Exposure to natural
hazards
Likelihood of suffering
harm
Capacities to reduce
negative consequences
Capacities for long-term

strategies for societal
change
Exposure
Vulnerability
WorldRiskIndex
Figure 1: The WorldRiskIndex and its components
medical services and social and material

coverage
+ adaptive capacities relating to forthcoming
natural events, to climate change and to other
challenges.
In order to provide an optimum representation of the disaster risk for all the countries
in the world, globally available data are used.
One of the special features of the approach explained in detail in the WorldRiskReport 2011
is that categories are also considered for which
no global data base exists so far. Whereas, for
example, the number of hospital beds or per
capita income are regularly established at the
level of the national states, the data on national disaster preparedness policy, on self-help
capacities, social networks and neighborly
help, on the urban and spatial structure and
on national adaptation strategies are not globally available. But these data are of considerable importance for risk assessment and have
therefore been included in the concept of the
WorldRiskIndex.
The preponderance of technical or economic

factors, which are easier to measure,
and which can frequently be observed in
worldwide analyses, is to be overcome in
the WorldRiskIndex in the course of the
next few years. The modular structure of
the WorldRiskIndex allows for this since it
enables supplements and extensions to be
made (Alliance Development Works 2011).
Once new, globally available and secure
data are newly available, they can be used to
calculate the Index. Currently, however, in
drawing conclusions in risk assessment, it still
has to be borne in mind that the social factors
in the WorldRiskIndex have less of an effect
than the technical or economic ones.
The structure of the WorldRiskIndex can be
used analogously for a local or regional risk
index. Often, other or further data will be
available at regional level that is relevant to
a risk assessment. In the WorldRiskReport
2011 this was demonstrated by the UNUEHS Institute with the example of several
www.WorldRiskReport.org
administrative units in
Indonesia (Birkmann et al.
2011).
The printed version of the

WorldRiskIndex has a volume
ensuring fast readability.
The texts of the Report are
supplemented and further
illustrated by maps, diagrams
and images. Additional, more
in-depth information, scientific
details of the methodology and
tables are available at www.
WorldRiskReport.org. There, the
2011 and 2012 Reports as well as
teaching material on the topic
are available for downloading.
In the case of both the local

and the global level, unsolved
problems relating to poverty,
a scarcity of resources and
weak governance raise the
susceptibility of societies to
natural hazards as well as the
lack of coping and adaptive
capacities. At the same time,
these social parameters are
negatively influenced by
extreme natural events. In a
nutshell, disasters prevent
development progress, and a
lack of development progress
raises the disaster risk. In order
to break this cycle, disaster
risk reduction strategies would
have to become an integral part
of comprehensive sustainable development
strategies. The links between the topics of
environmental degradation, poverty and
disaster risk have already been discussed
since the 1970s, although the political
discourses on the issue have frequently
been pursued independently of one another.
With the UN Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20) in June 2012, this
has visibly changed: Disaster risk reduction
has become one of the emerging issues on
the international agenda. The term resilience
towards natural hazards, which was already
coined in the Anti-Disaster Program of
Hyogo, became a central keyword at the Rio
Conference 2012.
At the same time, intensive debates have
now started on the future of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), agreed at UN
level, after their target year of 2015. In this
context, more fundamental debates are
also taking place in politics, science and
civil society on the future concept of the
international development agenda. This offers
the opportunity to comprehensively consider

the links between poverty, environmental
degradation and disaster risks.
It is for this reason that the WorldRiskReport
2012 focuses on Environmental Degradation
and Disasters.
It is supplemented by case studies
demonstrating how the members of Alliance
Development Works are acting at the interface
between the reduction of disaster risk and
addressing progressive climate change and
environmental degradation.
The Report aims to replace what has as a rule
been a short-term observation of disasters
with a development approach: Aspects such
as prevention, the protection of particularly
susceptible groups and risk management
have to be at the forefront of analyses and
future measures. The social, ecological and
economic dimensions of risk are combined
with classical hazard analyses of natural
events in the WorldRiskReport. This enables
risk assessment to be extended.
The concept of Alliance Development Works
is to regard emergency relief and development
cooperation as a combined entity and link
the two aspects more closely in practice.
Risk assessment, prevention, and coping
and adaptive strategies are components of
this concept the claim the Alliance makes
in the WorldRiskReport 2011 still applies
unchanged: Whether an earthquake or a
tsunami, a hurricane or a flood, the risk that
a natural event will develop into a disaster
depends only partially on the strength of the
event itself. A substantial cause lies in the
living conditions of people in the affected
regions and the opportunities to quickly
respond and help. Those who are prepared
and who know what to do during an extreme
natural event have higher survival chances.
The countries that anticipate natural hazards,
prepare for the consequences of climate
change and provide the necessary financial
resources are better equipped for the future.
Results at a glance
WorldRiskIndex
The Index identifies global disaster risk hotspots:
for example in Oceania, in Southeast Asia, in the
southern Sahel and in Central America. There, high
exposure to natural hazards and climate change
coincides with very vulnerable societies. What is
conspicuous is that among the 15 countries with the
highest risk worldwide (see right-hand table), eight
happen to be island states including Vanuatu,
Tonga and the Philippines at positions 1 to 3. Owing
to their proximity to the sea, island states are particularly exposed to the natural hazards of cyclones,
flooding and sea level rise. Very high exposure is a
significant risk driver, although a high development
level of society can counteract this substantially, as
the example of the Netherlands shows. In terms
of exposure, this country ranks twelfth among the
states most at risk worldwide. However, thanks to
social, economic, ecological and institutional factors, the Netherlands has reduced its disaster risk
enormously, and in terms of risk ranking worldwide, it is ranked 51st. Liberia is the opposite example. Despite a low level of exposure (position 113
in the Exposure Index), extreme social vulnerability
(position 7 in the Vulnerability Index) results in this
country being ranked 60th in the WorldRiskIndex
and thus coming into the second-highest risk class.
Liberia stands for many countries in Africa, the
hotspot of social vulnerability: There are 13 African
states among the 15 countries showing the greatest
vulnerability, alongside Haiti and Afghanistan.
Rank
Country
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Vanuatu
Tonga
Philippines
Guatemala
Bangladesh
Solomon Islands
Costa Rica
Cambodia
Timor-Leste
El Salvador
Brunei Darussalam
Papua New Guinea
Mauritius
Nicaragua
Fiji
Risk (%)
36.31
28.62
27.98
20.75
20.22
18.15
17.38
17.17
17.13
16.89
15.92
15.81
15.39
15.36
13.69
146.
Germany
3.27
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
166.
167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
Estonia
Israel
Egypt
Norway
Finland
Sweden
United Arab Emirates
Bahrain
Kiribati
Iceland
Grenada
Saudi Arabia
Barbados
Malta
Qatar
2.50
2.43
2.33
2.31
2.24
2.15
2.07
1.81
1.78
1.53
1.46
1.31
1.15
0.61
0.10
2. WorldRiskIndex 2012:
Concept, updating and results
Torsten Welle, Jrn Birkmann, Jakob Rhyner, Maximilian Witting, Jan Wolfertz
Whether natural hazards will turn into disasters depends

not only on the intensity of an event but is also crucially
determined by a societys level of development. The
WorldRiskIndex, which estimates the risk that 173 states
worldwide are exposed to of becoming victims of disasters
resulting from extreme natural events, sets out from this
understanding. The Index shows that the global hotspots for
a risk are located where a high exposure to natural hazards
and climate change coincides with vulnerable societies for
example in Oceania, Southeast Asia, the Southern Sahel and
Central America.
Exposure
Susceptibility
Public infrastructure
Population
exposed to:
A Earthquakes
B Storms
Insufficient global
data available
C Floods
Share of the population without

access to improved sanitation
Share of the population without
access to an improved water
source
Housing conditions
share of the population living in
slums; proportion of semi-solid
and fragile dwellings
D Droughts
E Sea level rise
Nutrition
C
Number of people in a country who are

exposed to the natural hazards
earthquakes (A), cyclones (B) and/or
flooding (C)
Share of population
undernourished
Poverty and
dependencies
D
Dependency ratio (share of under

15- and over 65-year-olds in relation to the
Number of people in this country who are

threatened by drought (D) and/or
sea level rise (E)
(each weighted half owing to the uncertainty of the data base)
working population)
Extreme poverty population

living with USD 1.25 per day or
less (purchasing power parity)
Economic capacity and

income distribution
Number of total population in country
Exposure
Gross domestic product per

capita (purchasing power parity)
Gini index
33 %
WorldRiskIndex
Figure 2: Calculation of the World Risk Index
2.1 Concept and structure of the WorldRiskIndex
he WorldRiskIndex is a tool to assess the

disaster risk that a society or country is
exposed to by external and internal factors.
Setting out from 173 countries, it illustrates
that a countrys disaster risk may depend
on several factors, so that a country also has
several means at its disposal to reduce risks
(cf. Birkmann et al. 2010; IPCC 2012). The
aim of the Index is to sensitize the public as
well as political decision-makers towards the

important topic of disaster risks. The Index
focuses attention on the people, countries and
regions, precisely because the emergence of
disasters is crucially determined by domestic
social factors. Thus the WorldRiskIndex
is based on the core understanding that
a societys disaster risk is influenced by
its structure, processes and framework
Insufficient global
data available
Coping capacities
Adaptive capacities
Government and authorities
Education and research
A
B
A
B
Corruption Perceptions Index

Good governance (Failed States Index)
Disaster preparedness and early

warning
Gender equity
C
D
National disaster risk

management policy according
to report to the United Nations
Medical services
C
D
Insufficient global
data available
E
F
Social networks
Material coverage
E
Gender parity in education

Share of female
representatives in the
National Parliament
Environmental status /
Ecosystem protection
Number of physicians per

10,000 inhabitants
Number of hospital beds per
10,000 inhabitants
Neighbors, family and

self-help
Adult literacy rate

Combined gross school
enrollment
G
H
Insufficient global
data available
Water resources
Biodiversity and habitat
protection
Forest management
Agricultural management
Adaptation strategies
Projects and strategies to
adapt to natural hazards and
climate change
Insurances (life insurances excluded)
Investment
I
J
K
33 %
Public health expenditure

Life expectancy at birth
Private health expenditure
33 %
conditions, which in turn may be affected

by natural events and the effects of climate
change.
hazard can turn into a disaster. One advantage

that the Index has is its modular structure
based on four components:
The concept of the Index stresses that not

only the magnitude of frequency of a natural
event but indeed also the social, economic
and ecological factors characterizing a country
essentially determine whether a natural
+
+
+
+
Exposure to natural hazards

Susceptibility
Coping capacities
Adaptive capacities
The modular structure may be applied not

only at national but also at regional and local
level. A detailed description of the individual components and the methodology can
be found in the WorldRiskReport 2011. This
WorldRiskReport (Alliance Development
Works 2011) is available for downloading at
www.WorldRiskReport.org.
Exposure
Risk is understood as interaction between a

hazard (earthquake, flood, cyclone, drought,
rising sea level) and the vulnerability of
societies. In this context, vulnerability refers
to social, physical, economic and environment-related factors that make people or
systems susceptible to the impacts of natural
hazards and adverse consequences of climate
change. Additionally, the Index examines the
abilities and capacities of people or systems
to cope with and adapt to negative impacts of
natural hazards. Vulnerability comprises the
components of susceptibility, coping capacities and adaptive capacities (cf. Birkmann et
al. 2011).
The term exposure refers to entities (population, built-up area, infrastructure component,
environmental areas) being exposed to the
effects of one or more natural hazards (earthquakes, cyclones, droughts and floods). In
the WorldRiskIndex, exposure relates to the
annual average number of individuals who
are potentially exposed to hazard events. In
this regard, the frequency of hazards is also
taken into account. Additionally, the number
of people are considered who would potentially be affected by the sea level rising by one
meter. To calculate exposure to earthquakes,
cyclones, floods and droughts, the Physical
Exposure data of the PREVIEW-Global Risk
Data Platform (http://preview.grid.unep.ch/)
of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) have been used. These include
the number of people per approx. 20 square
kilometers who are exposed on average to the
above-mentioned natural hazards per country
and per year.
The WorldRiskIndex is based on 28 indicators. The data required for its calculation are
freely available and can all be called up in the
Internet, which ensures transparency and
verifiability. In order to be mathematically aggregated into indices, the indicators are transformed in dimensionless rank levels between
0 and 1, i.e. they can be read as percentage
values. Figure 1 shows the modular structure
of the indices for exposure, susceptibility,
coping capacities and adaptive capacities as
well as their corresponding sub-categories and
weighting factors. For better comprehension
and cartographic transformation, the individual indices have been transformed into
percentage values and classified with the aid
of the quantile method integrated into the
ArcGIS10 software packet. The five classes calculated contain the same number of cases and
are translated into a qualitative classification
of very high high medium low very low
(see maps on the fold-out pages of the cover).
Calculating exposure to a rise in sea level by

one meter is based on data from the Center for
Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CreSIS) at the
University of Kansas. This data was combined
with the population statistics of the Global
Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP) run
by the Center for International Earth Science
Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia
University with the aid of a Geographical
Information System (GIS) in order to establish the potential exposure of communities
to rising sea level. Only half of the number of
individuals exposed to droughts and also to
sea level rises have been weighted since the
model for the calculation of droughts bears
some uncertainties (cf. Peduzzi et al. 2009)
and it is not possible to calculate an annual
average exposure to sea level rise, in spite of a
considerable hazard potential being an issue
affecting numerous coastal regions.
In order to calculate the exposure index that
describes the share of the population exposed
for each country, all exposed people per natural hazard have been added up and divided by
the number of inhabitants per country.
Susceptibility
Susceptibility generally refers to the
likelihood of harm, loss and disruption in an
extreme event triggered by a natural hazard.
Thus susceptibility describes structural
characteristics and framework conditions of
a society. The following five sub-categories
(see Figure 2), which outline the living
situation and living conditions in a country,
have been chosen to represent susceptibility:
public infrastructure, housing conditions,
nutrition, poverty and dependencies,
economic capacity and income distribution.
Housing conditions are an important factor in
defining susceptibility. In Figure 2, however,
they are marked gray, since they have so
far not been included in Index calculations
owing to a lack of global data. While data and
methods do exist to assess housing conditions,
such surveys have so far only been carried out
for a few cities worldwide owing to the high
time and cost effort involved so that presently,
no sufficient information is available for this
aspect at global level. Within the five subcategories, the susceptibility indicators (A-G)
and their respective weighting factors are
listed in percentages. The index Susceptibility
is represented worldwide as Map B1 (left foldout page of the cover).
Coping capacities
Coping and coping capacities comprise various abilities of societies and exposed elements
(for example critical infrastructure such as
nuclear power stations) to minimize negative
impacts of natural hazards and climate change
through direct action and the resources available. Coping capacities encompass measures
and abilities that are immediately available to
reduce harm and damages in the occurrence
of an event.
Figure 2 shows the five sub-categories of coping capacities (government and authorities,
disaster preparedness and early warning,
medical services, social networks, material coverage) and the indicators used (A-E)
together with their weighting factors. Due
to their high importance, the sub-categories
disaster preparedness and early warning
and social networks are included in the
coping capacities component. However, they
are marked gray since no global data referring
to them is available. Hence it has so far not
been possible to establish them in the Index.
To calculate the WorldRiskIndex, the opposite value, i.e. the lack of coping capacities,
has been used, which results from the value 1
minus the coping capacities (Map B2, left foldout page of the cover).
Adaptive capacities
In contrast to coping, adaptation is understood as a long-term process that also includes
structural changes (cf. Lavell et al. 2012;
Birkmann 2010). In addition, adaptation
encompasses measures and strategies dealing
with and attempting to address the negative
impacts of natural hazards and climate change
in the future. Five sub-categories have been
chosen for calculation that describe capacities
for a long-term adaptation and change within
a society: education and research, gender
equity, environmental status/ecosystem
protection, adaptation strategies and investments. Owing to insufficient global data,
Figure 2 shows these five sub-categories and
the eleven selected indicators (A-K) as well as
their corresponding weightings. The sub-category of adaptation strategies (marked grey)
could not be integrated into the calculations
either. In analogy to the coping capacities, the
lack of adaptive capacities is included in the
WorldRiskIndex (Map B3, left fold-out page of
the cover).
WorldRiskIndex
Just like in the first WorldRiskReport 2011,
the WorldRiskIndex is calculated by combining the four individually calculated components of exposure, susceptibility, lack of coping capacities and lack of adaptive capacities
(see Figure 2). In this context, the susceptibility, the lack of coping capacities and the lack
of adaptive capacities describe the societal
elements of the risk, and combined, they yield
the vulnerability index. The latter indicates
whether a disaster may actually ensue should
an extreme natural event occur. The vulnerability index (Map B, right fold-out page of the
cover) multiplied by the exposure index (Map
A) yields the WorldRiskIndex (Map C and
Diagram on pages 24/25).
WorldRiskIndex as a communicating
instrument
The WorldRiskReport 2011 was focused on in
at least 450 press articles and reports in more
than 30 countries. More than 300 articles
appeared in Germany alone. But not only did

the WorldRiskReport 2011 enjoy considerable
press coverage, it was also given much
attention and reflected in politics, science
and civil society. The discussions confirm the
significance of social vulnerability as a key
factor in lowering disaster risks due to natural
hazards and climate change. In addition,
there have also been controversial debates
over the good values that some Middle East
states scored in comparison to the hotspots in
Latin America. For example, regarding Chile,
the opinion was held that the very high risk
category was unjustified since Chile generally
had good coping and adaptive capacities and
bore a low level of susceptibility thanks to
its experiences with disasters in the wake
of extreme natural events. Interestingly, in
some cases, the discussion in the press and in
politics led back to science and, specifically,
to decision-makers such as the national
authority for disaster preparedness in the
Philippines, which uses the Index and the
Report to draw attention to the relevance of
disaster preparedness.
2.2 Updating and modifying the indicators
s shown above, the WorldRiskIndex

comprises 28 indicators that are
available worldwide. All the 28 indicators
referred to in the following are described in
detail in specific templates. In calculating
the WorldRiskIndex 2012, 26 of the 28
indicators have been updated, while the
same data apply for the remaining ones as
did last year. The templates for the indicators
and the latest available data sets as well as
their sources in comparison to the data from
the 2011 Index are listed in tables at the
website www.WorldRiskReport.org.

In the WorldRiskIndex, the data on exposure
has been updated regarding:
+ Indicator A: Earthquakes
+ Indicator B: Cyclones
+ Indicator C: Floods
+ Indicator E: Sea level rise.
Exposure to sea level rise (Indicator E) has
been newly calculated since more recent
population statistics are available with a better
spatial solution (CIESIN 2012). For exposure

to drought (Indicator D), the data have been
taken from the WorldRiskIndex 2011, since
the authors hold the opinion that these data
bear less uncertainty than the more up-to-date
data available in the data bank on exposure to
drought.
+ Indicator E: Insurances.
Susceptibility
Extensive modifications have been made

to the component adaptive capacities. For
one thing, data has been updated for all
Indicators:
Within the component of susceptibility, 6 out

of 7 indicators have been updated:
+ Indicator A: Share of population without
access to improved sanitation
+ Indicator B: Share of population without
access to clean water
+ Indicator C: Share of population
undernourished
+ Indicator D: Share of under 15- and over
65-year-olds in the working
population
+ Indicator F: Gross domestic product per
capita (purchasing power parity)
+ Indicator G: Gini index.
However, new values are only available for
some of the countries regarding Indicator
G, the distribution of assets or income (Gini
index). No updated values are available in
the data banks for Indicator E, the share of
population living on less than USD 1.25 per
day (purchasing power parity). This is why
here, the data from the WorldRiskIndex 2011
have once again been used.
Coping capacities
All the indicators of the component coping
capacities have been updated:
+ Indicator A: Perception of corruption
+ Indicator B: Good governance
+ Indicator C: Number of physicians per
10,000 inhabitants
+ Indicator D: Number of hospital beds per
10,000 inhabitants
However, like with the Gini index, new data

on medical services (Indicators C and D) is not
available for all countries.
Adaptive capacities
+ Indicator A: Adult literacy rate

+ Indicator B: Combined gross school
enrolment
+ Indicator C: Gender parity in education
+ Indicator D: Share of female representatives
in the National Parliament
+ Indicator E: Water resources
+ Indicator F: Biodiversity and habitat
protection
+ Indicator G: Forest management
+ Indicator H: Agricultural management
+ Indicator I: Public health expenditure
+ Indicator J: Life expectancy
+ Indicator K: Private health expenditure.
Here too however, as with the Gini index, the
restriction applies that the latest and new data
are not available for all countries (Indicators
A, B, C, D). Modifications of the data base
in the sub-category environmental status/
ecosystems protection within the individual
indicators (E, F, G, H) represent a further
major change that also applies retrospectively
to the previous years. The indicators
have been taken from the Environmental
Performance Index 2012, which has
undergone methodological redevelopments
and therefore provides a modified data base
and weighting for the indicators (for details
see Emerson et al. 2012).
2.3 Risk assessment at global level for 2012
ur core statement is that a countrys

exposure to a natural hazard and the
effects of climate change is not the only
factor responsible for the disaster risk, but
that rather, it is also the social framework
conditions and capacities to take action
that are reflected in susceptibility, coping
capacities and adaptive capacities. These three
components describe a societys vulnerability
and can shed light on whether the occurrence
of an extreme natural event can result in a
disaster. Here, however, it has to be borne in
mind that the results of the WorldRiskIndex
describe a potential risk at macro level
and cannot forecast individual events and
disasters.
WorldRiskIndex
Also in 2012, Vanuatu is the country with
the largest disaster risk worldwide, followed
by Tonga, the Philippines, Guatemala and
Bangladesh. The WorldRiskIndex 2012 shows
that these countries bear the disastrous
combination of extreme exposure and high
vulnerability.
The WorldRiskIndex 2012 is the product of
exposure and vulnerability. The individual
values for 173 countries are given in the
detailed table in the Annex. For a graphic
representation, see Map C on the fold-out
page of the cover and the map of the world on
pages 24/25.
Eleven of the countries bearing the greatest
risk are also among the top 15 of the most
exposed countries. But the examples of Japan
(ranking 4th in terms of exposure) and the
Netherlands (ranking 12th in exposure) show
that exposure to natural hazards and climate
change alone need not imply an especially
high disaster risk. The Netherlands and
Japan show similarly high exposure values to

natural hazards as Bangladesh (ranking 10th
in exposure), but with low vulnerability values
(27.76 for the Netherlands, 29.46 for Japan),
they can lower the risk value (to 8.48, giving
the Netherlands rank 51, and to 13.53 and
rank 16 for Japan).
Thus it is owing to the social, economic,
ecological and institutional conditions in a
society that one country will be vulnerable
while another will not. For example, while
de facto, no extreme poverty exists in the
Netherlands, almost half of the population of
Bangladesh (49.60 percent) have to survive
on less than USD 1.25 a day. Whereas in the
Netherlands, public infrastructure is very well
developed, governance is transparent and
in accordance with democratic principles,
and there are 39 physicians per 100,000
inhabitants on average, Bangladesh has a
mere three physicians per 10,000 inhabitants,
the country shows poor values for governance,
and every fifth inhabitant lacks access to clean
drinking water.
The 15 countries with the highest risk
Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Country
Vanuatu
Tonga
Philippines
Guatemala
Bangladesh
Solomon Islands
Costa Rica
Cambodia
Timor-Leste
El Salvador
Brunei Darussalam
Papua New Guinea
Mauritius
Nicaragua
Fiji
WorldRiskIndex (%)
36.31
28.62
27.98
20.75
20.22
18.15
17.38
17.17
17.13
16.89
15.92
15.81
15.39
15.36
13.69
The Netherlands are also ahead of Bangladesh

in terms of adaptive capacities: The literacy
rate is much higher (Netherlands: 99 percent,
Bangladesh: 56 percent), significantly
more people enjoy access to education
(Netherlands: 99.4 percent, Bangladesh:
48.7 percent), the protection of biodiversity
and habitats (index value 84.67 percent)
and forest management (index value 95.32
percent) are put significantly more emphasis
on in the Netherlands than in Bangladesh
(23.57 percent for biodiversity protection and
81.39 percent for forest management).
strongly affected by earthquakes owing to

their geographical location in the immediate
proximity of the tectonic plate borders while
the greatest threat to the Netherlands is the
rise in sea level that has to be reckoned with.
The latter also poses a threat to Vanuatu
and Tonga, with the two island states
additionally being exposed to storms and,
especially, earthquakes. For Vanuatu, the
model calculations from the PREVIEW data
bank (http://preview.grid.unep.ch/) suggest
that approx. 37 percent of the population are
exposed to an earthquake threat.
Hence, only the interaction of high exposure

and high vulnerability bears a high risk.
Thus, as a rule, high vulnerability values will
result in a greater risk, which is shown by the
examples of Cambodia and Bangladesh. In
terms of exposure, Cambodia is ranked 15th,
but owing to vulnerability values of 62.07, its
overall risk gives it position 8. The situation
for Bangladesh is comparable here. With its
exposure ranked at 10 and with relatively high
vulnerability values of 63.78, it attains an even
higher risk value (rank 5). These examples
highlight the influence of vulnerability on
a society regarding its potential to sustain
considerable harm and damage in the event of
natural hazards and climate change.
Although, for methodological reasons,

exposure to sea level rise is only weighted
half as strongly as exposure to earthquakes,
cyclones and floods, sea level rise does
constitute a relevant factor. This also applies
in particular to the Small Island Developing
States (such as Vanuatu and Tonga) and
the countries with a high population
concentration in low-lying coastal areas
(such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh).
Overall, an estimated 13 percent of the global
population live in coastal areas lying less than
ten meters above sea level (UN-Habitat 2011).
This shows that the expected rise in sea level
implies a considerable need for adaptation,

The world map of exposure (Map A, right
fold-out page of the cover) shows Southeast
Asia, Central America, the Pacific islands and
parts of Southeast Europe as global hotspot
regions. It gives the populations exposure to
the natural hazards of earthquakes, cyclones,
floods and droughts and to a rise in sea level
of one metre.
Eleven of the 15 most exposed countries are
situated in the hotspot regions. Individual
countries such as Chile, Japan and the
Netherlands are also highly exposed, with
Chile and Japan being potentially very
The 15 most exposed countries

Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Country
Vanuatu
Tonga
Philippines
Japan
Costa Rica
Brunei Darussalam
Mauritius
Guatemala
El Salvador
Bangladesh
Chile
Netherlands
Solomon Islands
Fiji
Cambodia
Exposure (%)
63.66
55.27
52.46
45.91
42.61
41.10
37.35
36.30
32.60
31.70
30.95
30.57
29.98
27.71
27.65
especially also in the regions and countries in

which population growth has recently been
registered in the low-lying coastal regions.
Out of the European countries, in addition
to the Netherlands, Greece, Serbia and
Albania have also been included in the highest
exposure class owing to their exposure to
earthquakes and drought.
The 15 most vulnerable countries
Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Country
Eritrea
Niger
Chad
Afghanistan
Haiti
Sierra Leone
Liberia
Mozambique
Guinea
Central African Republic
Ethiopia
Mali
Burundi
Nigeria
Togo
Vulnerability (%)
75.35
75.17
74.74
74.32
73.54
72.20
71.74
71.37
71.05
70.69
70.21
69.76
69.32
68.70
68.39
Vulnerability
The global vulnerability hotspot is in Africa,
as shown by the vulnerability map (Map
B, right fold-out page of the cover), which
summarizes the components of susceptibility,
the lack of coping capacities and the lack
of adaptive capacities. 13 of the worlds 15
most vulnerable countries lie in Africa. These
countries bear both a very high susceptibility
and, partly, very low coping and adaptive
capacities. Afghanistan and Haiti complete
the table of vulnerability at positions 4
and 5. Additionally, Yemen, Pakistan and
Bangladesh, for example, have to be regarded
as particularly vulnerable.
In Central America, Guatemala, Honduras
and Nicaragua in particular are characterized
by a high level of vulnerability. Within

Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and
Moldavia are the most vulnerable countries,
although on a global scale, these countries
ought to be regarded more as moderately
vulnerable. However, compared to Germany,
for example, they do show high values in
all three components: higher susceptibility
values (for example Bosnia and Herzegovina:
19.47 percent, Germany: 14.63 percent), a
greater lack of coping capacities (Bosnia
and Herzegovina: 73.88 percent, Germany:
38.58 percent) and lower values for adaptive
capacities (Bosnia and Herzegovina: 48.58
percent, Germany: 32.81 percent).
Susceptibility
The countries of the Sahel and in the tropical
regions of Africa show a very high level of
susceptibility (Map B1, left fold-out page of
the cover). This is also reflected in the list of
the 15 most susceptible countries worldwide,
which, alongside Haiti (position 8) contains 14
African countries. In the cases of Mozambique
and Tanzania, the countries at positions 1 and
2, the enormous level of susceptibility is, for
example, apparent in the poor values in the
area of public infrastructure. In Mozambique,
The 15 most susceptible countries
Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Country
Mozambique
Tanzania
Eritrea
Liberia
Niger
Chad
Madagascar
Haiti
Sierra Leone
Burundi
Zambia
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Zimbabwe
Susceptibility (%)
67.63
67.34
66.62
65.11
64.87
64.69
64.39
62.70
62.48
61.99
61.81
61.52
58.93
58.47
58.45
less than half of the population has access to

clean water, and only every fifth individual has
access to improved sanitation. In Tanzania,
just ten percent of the population has access
to improved sanitation. In addition, in both
countries, more than three quarters of the
population live in extreme poverty, and 38
percent of the population in Mozambique and
34 percent in Tanzania are undernourished.
The international community has to provide
special support for Africa, the global hotspot
of susceptibility to natural hazards and
climate change, with special support to reduce
this susceptibility.
However, poverty and poor living conditions
have also brought Afghanistan (position 18)
and Papua New Guinea (position 34) into the
highest susceptibility class. On a European
scale, Romania and Moldavia come off worst,
for here, not all people, as would be the usual
case in the rest of Europe, have access to
improved sanitation and clean water. Also,
measured in terms of the gross domestic
product (GDP) per capita (purchasing power
parity), economic performance tends to be
poor compared with the rest of Europe, with
Moldavia at USD 3,110 a year and Romania at
USD 14,287 a year. By comparison, per capita
GDP is USD 37,260 a year in Germany.
Lack of coping capacities
The cartographic representation of the lack of
coping capacities (Map B2, left fold-out page
of the cover) reveals that the countries with
low capacities and resources for a disaster
event are mainly concentrated in the African
continent, with Afghanistan (position 1),
Haiti (position 4), Myanmar (position 6),
Yemen (position 9) and Iraq (position 10)
belonging to the top 15 list of countries with
the greatest lack of coping capacities. Almost
always, governance indicators are particularly
alarming: here, poor values in the area of
corruption and governance clearly show that
The 15 countries with the lowest coping capacities

Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Country
Lack of coping capacities (%)
Afghanistan
92.07
Chad
91.80
Sudan
91.70
Haiti
90.43
Guinea
90.16
Myanmar
89.82
Burundi
89.53
89.44
Yemen
88.92
Iraq
88.83
Niger
88.73
Cte dIvoire
88.55
Guinea-Bissau
88.48
Ethiopia
88.34
Uganda
88.11
should an extreme natural event occur, the

states and governmental institutions have only
few functioning capacities of their own owing
to a lack of coordinating institutions such
as, in Germany, the Technisches Hilfswerk
(THW German Federal Agency for Technical
Relief) to be able to provide effective help for
people in emergencies. Moreover, if a natural
hazard occurs, only few people have the
opportunity to benefit from well-developed
healthcare.
Within Europe, the countries of Albania,
Bosnia and Moldavia tend to show poor values
for coping capacities, which is partly due to
poorer insurance against natural hazards in
these countries.
Lack of adaptive capacities
The cartographic representation of the lack
of adaptive capacities (Map B3, left fold-out
page of the cover) shows clearly recognizable
hotspot regions in the Southeast Asian area,
with India at the centre, and in West Africa
and parts of Central Africa. In addition,
two further but smaller hotspot regions can
be identified: in East Africa, with Ethiopia
and Eritrea, and in the southern part,
The 15 countries with the lowest adaptive capacities

Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Country
Afghanistan
Eritrea
Niger
Mali
Chad
Haiti
Mauritania
Sierra Leone
Pakistan
Guinea
Burkina Faso
Liberia
Ethiopia
Comoros
Benin
Lack of adaptive capacities (%)

74.26
72.68
71.93
69.85
67.74
67.48
67.07
66.64
65.35
64.91
64.32
64.22
63.37
63.30
63.00
Madagascar, the Comoros, Mozambique and

Lesotho. Haiti and Yemen also show massive
problems regarding their adaptive capacities.
In contrast, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are conspicuously positive. Thanks to
their favorable scoring in the categories education and research, environmental status
and ecosystems protection and gender parity, the Philippines in particular, which are
ranked as high regarding susceptibility and
their lack of coping capacities, have attained a
quite good result.
The reason why, for example, Eritrea should
be the country with the second poorest
adaptive capacities can be demonstrated
well in a comparison with Iceland: Whereas
Iceland can boast a very high literacy rate
(99 percent) and really good education
participation among the population (95.9
percent), the literacy rate in Eritrea is just
66 percent, and education participation is at
only 28 percent. Correspondingly, even with
similar exposure to natural hazards and sea
level rise, structurally, Eritrea is in a much
poorer position to develop adaptive capacities
systematically and on a long-term basis, for
example through well-trained specialists.
Furthermore, public and private health

expenditure highlights the great disparity
between the two countries in the area of
adaptive capacities. In Iceland, public health
expenditure in 2009 amounted to USD 2,546
per capita, and private expenditure to USD
548. In Eritrea, by contrast, a mere USD 6
per capita was spent by the state and USD
7 privately on the area of health. Although,
obviously, the healthcare model of the socalled western countries can be questioned,
too, these dimensions show the massive
differences between the two countries regard
present adaptive capacities.
Discussion of results
The calculations and results of the
WorldRiskIndex 2012 show that a complex
issue can be reduced to an index value, which
also means that such an index can be used as
a communicating instrument by politics and
the public. This was also confirmed by the
positive response that the publication of the
WorldRiskIndex 2011 met with, which was
addressed in more than 450 media reports
worldwide. On the other hand, the updates
and modifications of the Index described in
Chapter 2.2 also show the limits of such a
tool. For example, data availability and data
quality are crucial to the quality of the Index
(Freudenberg 2003, Meyer 2004), too.
Owing to the modification of some indicators,
the results of the WorldRiskIndex 2012
cannot directly be compared with all the items
of the WorldRiskIndex 2011. For example,
for calculating exposure to sea level rise,
a new, improved data base has been used
giving a better spatial resolution of population
data globally. Modifications in the areas
of other components, such as the area of
environmental status /ecosystems protection,
do not allow any direct comparisons with the
previous report, either.
The differences in the data situation can be
highlighted by comparing the examples of
Bangladesh and the Netherlands. Thanks

to the more recent and precise data, a
difference in the result of exposure to sea
level rise of just under 80,000 people for
Bangladesh and half a million people for the
Netherlands is obtained. Thus the exposure
value rises for both countries (from 27.52
to 31.70 percent for Bangladesh and from
29.24 to 30.57 percent for the Netherlands).
Owing to the modifications of the data
in the field of environmental protection/
ecosystems protection referred to above, the
lack of adaptive capacities for Bangladesh
increases by 2.25 percentage points, and for
the Netherlands by 3.84 percentage points.
This strong increase in exposure cannot be
traced back accurately to processes of change
in the country but results from a better data
situation.
For this reason, great care has to be taken
in directly comparing the individual index
values with those of the WorldRiskIndex 2011.
Nevertheless, bearing these uncertainties
and framework conditions in mind, the
rankings of last years and this years Index
may be critically viewed provided that they
are related to trends rather than changes in
details per country. Generally, according to
Freudenberg (2003), it applies that changes
in indices over a short or limited period are
difficult to interpret since data quality and
data relevance will partly differ considerably
in the individual indicators. In order to
achieve optimum comparability, all indicators
would have to have the same data source for
all countries, i.e. a uniform year of reference
and a uniform method of establishing the
data. However, this cannot be put into
practice, which is why only an estimate can
be made with the data used. Nevertheless,
the results of the WorldRiskIndex 2012 show
that, as demonstrated by the examples of
Bangladesh and the Netherlands, countries
with a similarly high level of exposure to
natural hazards and climate change impacts
can minimize their risk (Netherlands:
8.48 percent and Bangladesh: 20.22

percent) through lower social vulnerability
(Netherlands: 27.76 percent, Bangladesh:
63.78 percent).
Generally, a more significant persistence of
problems can be observed in the countries of
Africa and Southeast Asia. This means that
several countries which were already identified as high-risk areas in the WorldRiskReport
2011 have again been ranked high in the
WorldRiskReport 2012. More significant
changes can only be expected over a longer
period of time. In a way, this reflects development cooperation. For development
cooperation too, a long-term effort is needed
before any progress can be measured on a
world scale. In order for these changes to lead
to positive results and the risk to decrease
for the particularly vulnerable sections of the
population, the fateful cycle of environmental
destruction, poverty and disaster risk has to
be broken by integrated measures at local,
national and international level.
3. Focus: Environmental
degradation and disasters
Hundreds of thousands of trees toppled by a severe hurricane are a

visible sign of environmental destruction wrought by a disaster. And
flooded coastal villages and washed away beaches whose natural
protective belt of mangroves has been chopped down in pursuit of
economic interests are, in turn, a sign of the considerably greater
risk in the wake of a natural disaster where the natural environment
has been destroyed. There is an interactive link between
environmental destruction and disasters that many examples can
serve to describe. But so far, these insights have been given too little
attention by politics and science.
3.1 Environmental degradation as a risk factor

Torsten Welle, Michael W. Beck, Peter Mucke
ntact ecosystems can significantly reduce

disaster risk in four ways, corresponding to
the components of the World Risk Index.
+ Forests and riparian wetlands or coastal
ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs
and sea-grass reduce exposure to natural
hazards by acting as natural buffers and
protective barriers that thus reduce the
impacts of extreme natural events such as
landslides or tidal waves.
+ When sustainably managed and in good
condition, intact ecosystems such as
grasslands, forests, rivers or coastal areas
can reduce vulnerability. They contribute
to nutrition, income and wellbeing. In
addition to food, they can also provide
medicine and building materials, or they
can represent new sources of income, for
example via nature-based tourism. Thus
they support the livelihoods of inhabitants
and supply essential goods.
+ Ecosystems can enhance coping capacity
in the event of a disaster. For example, if
supply lines are severed, food and fresh
water can be obtained from the immediate
environment when that environment is
healthy and intact.
+ Ecosystems also directly influence adaptive
capacities. When the environment is
in good condition, there is a greater
diversity of future planning options. For
example, in Haiti and other deforested
and environmentally degraded areas, the
opportunities for diversified strategies for
reducing future vulnerability are greatly
reduced. It is much easier to manage to
reduce future risks when your natural
resources currently are viable and intact;

your choices simply are greater.
The role of the ecosystems and the link
between environmental degradation and
the increased impact of disasters were
clearly made in the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment (MA) in 2005 particularly with
regards to risks from flooding and forest fires.
This UN MA study also showed that 60 % of
the ecosystems are not being sustainably used
or are in a state of ongoing degradation (MA,
2005). The UN Global Assessment Report
on Disaster Risk Reduction 2009 identified
environmental degradation and the decline of
ecosystems as one of the chief factors raising
the risk of disasters.
However, scientists have only recently begun
to systematically establish the extent to which
ecosystems have a direct influence on disaster
risk. The Secretariat of the United Nations
Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)
has applied the ecosystem approach and
referred to the role of the environment and
its buffering capacities vis--vis natural
hazards several times in reports. It has
called for detailed studies and analyses on
an understanding of ecosystems and their
influence on the reduction of disaster risks
(UNEP/ISDR 2008). Here, there is still a
considerable need for research and action.
There are a large number of local and regional
studies demonstrating that ecosystem
functions and services and their sustainable
management have a mitigating effect on
disaster risk (PEDRR 2010, Sudmeier-Rieux
et al. 2006). For example it is well known that
agribusiness increases soil erosion and that
deforestation increases risks of landslides (see
Chapter 3.3).
As a rule, ecosystem functions are very

complex, and the disaster risk is influenced
by many factors. At the global level, available
data so far allow for restricted statements on
the quantitative link between environmental
degradation and risk. A correlation has
however been established between the
frequency of flooding and deforestation
(Bradshaw et al. 2007). In Chapter 3.2. of
this report, the link between the condition
of coastal ecosystems and coastal hazard
mitigation through wave attenuation and
erosion reduction is examined globally.
There are several reasons why we believe that
it is difficult to find global correlations in overall degradation and risk. First we find that the
nature of the relationship depends strongly on
the respective hazard and habitat type. And
second, we believe that the global analysis requires higher resolution data of the type which
are so far usually only available from local and
regional surveys. Although there is an obvious
need for further research in this area, there is
widespread scientific evidence showing that
the state of the ecosystems has a profound
impact on disaster risk.
Increased disaster risk through
environmental degradation
There are numerous local- and regional-scale
examples of the links between ecosystem
condition and disaster risk. For example, the
loss of ecosystems, such as the degradation of
wetlands and mangroves along river courses,
results in increased flooding. This link has
been demonstrated along the Mississippi
River in the USA. Here, the floodwater storage
capacity of the soil has fallen by 80 percent
owing to the degradation of forest-covered
wetlands along the river through canal
building measures, leveling and draining for
development purposes (MA 2005, Chapter
16). In combination with severe precipitation,
snowmelt and a low level of evaporation, the
degradation of alluvial zones along the courses
of rivers, river regulation and the sealing of the

land enhance surface runoff.
The result is a higher risk of flooding since
the ground and the vegetation can no longer
absorb the water (Disse and Engel 2001).
Furthermore, deforestation and crop farming
on slopes also lead to an increase in flood risk
since deforestation and agriculture in river
catchment areas contribute to increased soil
erosion and this in turn raises the sediment
load in rivers. This process can result in the
silting up of rivers, as has been demonstrated
with the examples of the Ganges and the
Brahmaputra (Ali 2007).
The link between deforestation and flood risk
has also been examined in several studies
in experimental hydrological research.
Deforestation raises the annual run-off volume
and maximum throughflow and reduces the
evaporation rate. These properties cause an
increased flood risk since the natural buffering
capacity of the forest as an ecosystem is
lowered (ADPC 2004). Degradation of this
kind can lead to a roughly fourfold increase
in the extent of flooding in comparison to
riparian landscapes with intact, undisturbed
vegetation cover (Atta-ur-Rahman and Khan
2011).
Marshes, mangrove forests, corals and
sea-grass beds have a direct impact on the
disaster risk in coastal areas. For example, the
alteration of wetlands in coastal watersheds
exacerbated flooding events in Florida and
Texas (Brody et al. 2007). In looking at
the impacts of cyclones at global level, the
areas covered by even semi-altered coastal
ecosystems were correlated with lower human
mortality (Perez-Maqueo et al. 2007).
The threat of a landslide is increased by
severe precipitation, snowmelt, thawing of
the ground, tremors due to earthquakes and,
last but not least, loss of vegetation through
anthropogenic influence (BAFU 2009).
Peduzzi (2010) examined the link between
++ 23rd to 29th August 2005 ++

Hurricane Katrina in the USA
Reaching speeds of more than 250 kilometers an hour,
Hurricane Katrina at some points built to a category 5
hurricane (the strongest) and hit the Gulf Coast of the
USA, especially Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, as well
as Alabama and Georgia. New Orleans was particularly
severely affected. Causing more than 1,800 deaths, Hurricane Katrina was one of the five deadliest hurricanes
in the history of the USA. Many coastal ecosystems were
heavily damaged by Katrina and the follow-up Hurricane
Rita, one month later. Louisianas Chandeleur Islands lost
around 85 percent of their surface area; these barrier
islands were critical nesting and feeding grounds and
their loss directly impacted hundreds of thousands birds
from sandwich terns to brown pelicans. Through these
storms and through saltwater intrusion inland, more than
570 square kilometers of marshland and coastal forests of
the Gulf Coast were lost, which was on top of the already
rapid decline of these coastal habitats.
++ 14th to 18th April 2006 ++

Sandstorms in China
The sandstorms are a meteorological phenomenon
that occurs in the months of the spring in China.
Industrial pollution and an over-cultivation of the soil,
deforestation and overgrazing are massively increasing
their intensity and their impact.
Owing to the storms, Chinas deserts grow by up to
10 meters each year, which leads to a loss of fertile
soil. Sandstorms also contain toxic harmful substances
(sulfur, soot, ash, carbon monoxide) and heavy metals,
which can result in an impairment of air, soil and water
properties for instance through acid rain. Additionally,
the heavy metals can cause sustained contamination
of forage plants for animals as well as their habitats.
landslides and vegetation cover with reference to the

earthquake in northern Pakistan in 2005. He used
geological data for this purpose (such as remote sensing
data like satellite images) from which the vegetation
was deduced, digital elevation models, data on active
earthquake zones and digital infrastructure data (roads
and rivers), and he compiled a regression model. The
result was that vegetation can reduce the occurrence of
landslides by 15 %, thus representing a significant risk
reducing component.
Disasters as a cause of environmental destruction
A number of local and regional studies deal with damage
to ecosystems that has been caused by natural events.
The state of the environment is examined before and
immediately after the event usually with the aid of
remote sensing data, provided that it is available in data
banks.
In China, an analysis of surface vegetation was carried
out following the earthquake in Wenchuan (with a
magnitude of 8.0) in May 2008. Degradation by the
earthquake was at 22 percent. One of the phenomena
resulting from the earthquake was a large number of
landslides. However, after four months, the recovery
level of the vegetation was already at almost 100 percent
(Liu et al. 2010).
In Thailand, following the tsunami in 2004, the
extent of damage to five different forest ecosystems
was examined with the aid of high-resolution remote
sensing data (Roemer et al. 2010). One aspect revealed
here was that in the area examined, 55 percent of the
mangrove forests had suffered immediate damage while
others, such as tea tree forests, had only suffered a little
damage.
Cyclones can cause considerable damage to ecosystems.
For example, throughout the Gulf of Mexico, cyclones
consistently destroy oyster reefs and beds to the extent
that tens of millions of dollars have been spent in
the past decade to help revive oyster fishing grounds
for small-scale fishing communities. Cyclones have
seriously harmed coral reefs throughout the Caribbean,
including many of those that are extremely important to
communities for tourism and diving.
In Pakistan, damage to the environment caused by flooding

was examined. For not only does heavy flooding lead to a
loss of livestock and harvests. Erosion processes do lasting
harm to the topsoil, strongly affecting the livelihoods
of people and resulting in an increase in vulnerability.
However, no detailed quantification of damage is available
(Atta-ur-Rahman 2011).
The warming of the oceans is already having dramatic
effects on reefs and wetlands around the world. When sea
surface temperature increases, coral reef ecosystems are
badly impacted. In the 1998 El Nino ocean warming events,
huge numbers of corals were killed throughout the Indian,
Pacific and Caribbean seas. These events are predicted to be
much more common in the coming years.
A large number of local and regional surveys demonstrate
that the environment directly influences disaster risk.
However, further examinations of case studies and country
analyses are required to improve our understanding
of these processes; further we need better data for
comprehensive global correlations. At the same time, it
is important to enhance environmental conservation and
sustainable environmental management from the local to
the global level and actively integrate all these aspects into
disaster preparedness.
++ July/August 2010 ++
Flooding in Pakistan
The floods were caused by very heavy
monsoon rainfalls and were aggravated by
deforestation in the Himalayas. The water
masses flooded 20 percent of Pakistans area,
affecting 21 million people.
Food supplies and wide stretches of land
used for agricultural purposes were rendered
useless. More than 3.2 million hectares,
which is just under 16 percent of the cultivable area, were destroyed. The availability
of clean drinking water was dramatically
reduced.
++ 11th March 2011 ++

Earthquake in Japan
In the course of the Tohuku earthquake and
the subsequent Tsunami, 15,860 people
were killed, while a further 3,000 were
reported lost. The quake hit the Japanese
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, resulting
in a core meltdown and the emission of
radioactive material.
This led to a contamination of the air, soil,
rivers and lakes, and food (fruit, vegetables,
livestock, fish and seafood) for several
decades or even centuries.
3.2 Coastal Habitats and Risk Reduction

Michael W. Beck, Christine C. Shepard
he worlds coastal zones are changing

rapidly and the rate of change is predicted
to increase from further coastal development
and the impacts of climate change, both
of which will dramatically increase the
risk potential. Coastal ecosystems and
communities are going to be most seriously
affected by climate change, through sea level
rise and increased intensity and frequency of
storms and extreme weather events. Already,
the proportion of the worlds gross domestic
product (GDP) annually exposed to tropical
cyclones has increased from 3.6 % in the
1970s to 4.3 % in the first decade of the 2000s
(UNISDR 2011).
Coastal and marine habitats, particularly coral
reefs and wetlands, are at the front line of
these changes and are suffering the greatest
damage and destruction. Up to 85% of oyster
reefs worldwide have been lost, as well as 3050% of wetlands (marshes and mangroves)
and approximately 20% of coral reefs (Beck
et al. 2011). In most cases, the percent loss of
these habitats is far greater around population
centers. It may reach to the point of functional
extinction of these ecosystems. That is, where
the most people could benefit from these
ecosystems is often where their impacts and
loss have been the greatest.
Effectiveness of Natural Solutions
Coastal ecosystems such as wetlands and
reefs provide substantial benefits and many
advantages for the coastal inhabitants in
particular. The loss of these ecosystems affects
millions of people, particularly in resourcedependent communities of the tropics. Coral
reefs and mangroves are critical to tropical,
developing nations. They benefit fisheries,
tourism, culture, shoreline stabilization and

coastal defense. Their worldwide locations are
demonstrated on the double page 38/39.
There is a growing awareness in disaster
risk management in coastal regions. Natural
conservation solutions, so-called green
solutions, are gaining ground. They take
advantage of the natural properties of coastal
habitats to mitigate hazards and reduce risk
(UNISDR 2011). Interest in green solutions is
driven by
+ evidence of ecosystems playing a major role
in coastal protection and reducing risks
+ their cost effectiveness
+ the opportunity in some areas to create
sustainable livelihood alternatives.
Recent studies show quantitatively that
conservation and management of coastal
habitats can play a key role in reducing coastal
hazards, e.g. through wave attenuation and
erosion reduction and can thus reduce the
vulnerability of communities. These studies
include analyses of all marsh studies globally
that measure the benefits of coastlines with
marshes as compared to those without for
coastal protection. There is also clear evidence
that mangroves provide coastal protection
benefits in many circumstances in particular
for attenuating storm surge, especially with
respect to attenuating storm floods (Gedan
et al. 2011, Shepard et al. 2011, Zhang et al.
2012).
The second major factor driving interest
in natural solutions is their cost efficiency.
They can be a cost effective part of hazard
mitigation and climate adaptation
strategies. Third, natural solutions can
Coastal Defense green and gray solutions

The range of solutions for reducing coastal hazards ranges
from green to gray solutions. Green solutions comprise the conservation and restoration of natural coastal
ecosystems. Here wetlands and reefs are conserved,
replanted or restored to reduce the impacts from waves
and erosion on the coastline. There is a growing interest
in green solutions but this is also urgently needed.
Worldwide, gray solutions have been used the most.
Here, coastlines are artificially hardened, and gabions and
breakwaters made of rock and cement are dumped on
shorelines to stabilize them. The development of one gray
defense shifts impacts to people downshore, who must

then invest in building another artificial defense. Thus
more than 22,000 km of the coastal zone in Europe are
covered in concrete or asphalt. In the 1990s alone, there
was an increase in hardened coastline of almost 1,900
kilometers in Europe (Airoldi and Beck 2007).
Gray solutions cause continuous maintenance costs,
whereas green solutions are more sustainable and can
grow naturally. Mangrove forests, wetlands and coral
reefs also offer additional benefits to people including
fisheries and livelihoods (e.g., harvest and tourism).
make a valuable contribution to addressing

multiple coastal management objectives with
which local officials are charged, including
natural resource protection and livelihood
development. Strategies that aim to enhance
the resilience of ecosystems to enable the
continued provision of goods and services can
be particularly important for communities
directly exposed to hazards that depend upon
natural resources.
Coral Reefs and Coastal Protection
Here, we focus on coral reefs as an example
of the role and importance of coastal habitats
for hazard mitigation, because they often form
large, robust offshore barriers, because of
their proximity to vulnerable settlements and
because, while their condition is declining,
it is still better than that of many other
coastal habitats. Numerous studies show the
benefits of coral reefs for coastal protection,
in particular for reducing the wave energy
and height that impact coastlines (Kenchet
al. 2009, Sheppard et al. 2005). In many
places, these reefs serve as breakwaters and
are the first line of coastal defense for hazards
associated with waves, erosion and flooding.
Studies show that coral reefs attenuate and
reduce more than 85 per cent of incoming
wave energy. The role of reefs as barriers is
something that is visually apparent from shore
as they break waves (sometimes very large
waves) and substantially reduce the energy
and height that would otherwise hit the shore
far more directly. This wave-breaking effect is
something also visible from aerial photos (e.g.,
Google Earth). From an engineering point
of view, some of the most critical features of
any barrier whether natural or man-made are
height, hardness, and friction. These explain
why reefs are so critical; they are huge, hard
and structurally complex.
The number of people that potentially benefit
from coral reefs is high. As a broad estimate
of those that might receive benefits from
reefs, we look at how many people and where

the benefits might be greatest by assessing
the number of people who live in low coastal
areas (below 10 meters) near a reef (within 50
kilometers) (see maps on double pages).
These are the 200 million people in villages,
towns and cities living near the coast at low
elevations who may receive some direct and
indirect benefits from reefs. These are also the
communities and municipalities that might
bear coastal defense or other development
costs if reefs are degraded and more artificial
barriers and hardened shorelines (gray
infrastructure) must be developed. From the
perspective of risk reduction, many of the
most at-risk countries are tropical and coastal,
which is where reefs are most abundant.
Coral Reefs and Risk
The value of reefs for providing numerous
benefits and reducing disaster risk depends
crucially on reef condition. Unfortunately,
many reefs are in declining condition. Coral
reefs are one of the most well assessed coastal
ecosystems and the Reefs at Risk reports
provide a well established indicator of global
coral reef status based on the indicators
extent of destructive fishing, extent
of coastal development, and extent of
pollution (Burke et al. 2012). Considerations
of the consequences of climate change and its
impacts on coral reefs from thermal stress and
acidification are not included yet but could be
added in future.
For example, in the Caribbean, there have
been huge losses of coral reefs and their
structural complexity which is critical in
considerations of coastal protection. Among
the corals that have been lost, most are
the staghorn and elkhorn corals, which
are complex branching corals that exist in
shallower high energy zones on and near reef
crests. Their loss can affect both reef height
and complexity (i.e., friction), which are
critical parameters from a coastal defense

standpoint.
Where reefs are lost and degraded, we can
reasonably expect that exposure to wave
energy (daily and from storms) will increase
and so will the need for investment in
solutions (either gray or green) to stabilize
shorelines and protect people and property.
Understanding the overlap in social and
environmental risk is critical for informing
options for action. Some of the nations most
at risk are in the western Pacific in Oceania.
Moreover, these countries have the greatest
overall proportions of their populations in low
coastal areas near reefs (28% of the overall
population).
The good news is that these are the areas
where reefs are in the best shape globally
(69% with a low level of degradation). In
Oceania, government authorities and nongovernmental organizations should focus
their efforts on reef conservation near people,
because if they were to become degraded, this
would have serious consequences for people
already often at high risk.
In many other areas, reefs are in worse shape.
Government and civil society actors there
have to concentrate on better management
with the aim of reef recovery, which can have
a real influence on reducing hazard risk.
Nations throughout the Caribbean have very
high exposure to storms and the role of barrier
reefs is particularly important there. Asia
has by far the greatest number of people (127
million) in low elevations (below ten meters)
and near reefs. Here, reef recovery would
benefit a particularly large number of people.
The Map of the World on double page 40/41
shows the level of degradation of coral reefs
worldwide, the disaster risk in accordance
with the WorldRiskIndex and number of
people in low, exposed areas near reefs.
Benefits and Limitations of Natural Solutions

The benefits from green solutions are real, but
this does not mean that they are a panacea.
Indeed, no defense guarantees protection;
even the largest and most fortified barriers
fail to offer complete protection, as the 2011
tsunami in Japan showed. One problem is
that a protective barrier green or gray
may funnel waters in ways that can increase
hazards in other areas. Barriers do not stop
water, they merely redirect it. The nature of
the protection is dependent on many factors
including hazard type (tsunami or storm
waves; direction and speed) and structural
characteristics (height, width and friction).
The incorporation of natural solutions is
imperative given the very high costs to society
of engineered, gray solutions. Mitigation
of coastal hazards has traditionally been
undertaken using shoreline hardening
and engineered defenses. In many places
however, putting up enough artificial
defences is impractical, too expensive,
and requires on-going maintenance costs.
Moreover, such hardening prevents natural
change in habitats, thus endangering them,
because it prevents the inland migration of
coastal ecosystems that get caught in the
squeeze between the rising sea and coastal
development. Changing approaches (and also
the mindsets of decision-makers) to include
green infrastructure in the discussion is not
simple, and faces strong vested interests
of those who earn money by implementing
engineered approaches.
Added Risks or New Opportunities: The
Choice is Ours
In the Global Assessment Report on Disaster
Risk Reduction, the estimated economic
loss risk associated with floods and tropical
cyclones is increasing worldwide. These risks
will likely only get worse with increases in
coastal development and with climate change.
Future development that is poorly done will

lead to even greater problems and put some
of the most vulnerable people at greater risk.
Development and conservation do not have to
be incompatible; on the contrary, the concept
of risk reduction can link environmental,
social, and economic goals.
A revival of mangroves and reefs

Expertise and success in restoring habitats is increasing.
The greatest progress has been made with mangrove forest
restoration; the size and scope of reforestation projects has
grown rapidly (Spalding et al. 2011). There are also growing
efforts in the restoration of oyster reefs and coral reefs. In
addition to the ecosystem benefits that these restored habitats provide, the very act of restoration creates employment
opportunities as well as a greater environmental awareness. For reefs there have been encouraging developments
in the use of semi-natural structures such as reef blocks to
help restore the infrastructure of coral reefs and oyster
reefs. Further underwater nurseries have been developed
to help grow corals (e.g., staghorn corals), which can be
transplanted to reefs and blocks to quickly re-establish the
living skin around reefs ( Johnson et al. 2011).
It is well recognized that investments in

disaster prevention through sustainable
development are cost effective. And it
is exactly these sorts of actions which
would reduce impacts on ecosystems and
thus preserve their benefits for people.
Unfortunately, the UNISDR has consistently
found that efforts to reduce underlying risk
factors account for the least progress in all
commitments to risk reduction based on the
Hyogo Framework for Action. Moreover, the
UNISDR notes that countries rarely appear
to work on reducing risk through natural
resource management and the incorporation
of disaster risk reduction measures into
environmental planning. Therefore,
governments at the national and multinational level need to substantially increase
their commitment to these preventive plans
and measures. Furthermore development
organizations and environmental groups
need to be comprehensively involved in
these issues, which could meet joint goals in
sustainable development, risk reduction and
the conservation of habitats.
The other major areas of opportunity are
in habitat conservation and restoration for
risk reduction and other ecosystem benefits
(e.g., improvement of livelihoods). Improved
management and recovery of existing habitats
is the most cost-effective approach for
realizing ecosystem benefits to people. This
will be no simple task and will be challenging,
but the building blocks for these solutions
have been laid (see box). Indeed there is some
good news when considering the revitalization
of coastal habitats in general and for coral
reefs in particular. The recovery of some reefs
after the global impacts of coral bleaching

from hot water in 1998 is encouraging (corals
die and only the white bleached calcium
carbonate skeleton remains when waters are
too hot) (Baker et al. 2008). However, these
warm water events will likely increase, and
reefs will need to be better managed to reduce
sedimentation, pollution, and overfishing so
that they can be healthy and resilient to these
added climate stresses.
Looking ahead, there will be increasing
investments in adaptation aimed at reducing
risk to the growing coastal hazards from
climate change. These funds will be targeted
for developing nations of which the most
at-risk are tropical and coastal. If traditional
approaches are applied, these funds will
mainly go to gray infrastructure (e.g.,
seawalls, gabions, and breakwaters) unless
organizations and agencies across spectrums
actively identify the places where conservation
and restoration of ecosystems represent
particularly good solutions for risk reduction.
conservation efforts towards people and

particularly those at higher risk. This will
mean working less often in more remote areas
and much more often where habitats like coral
reefs are closest to people.
By prioritizing conservation and restoration
of habitats near human communities, we can
reduce risks from further habitat loss and,
most importantly, focus habitat restoration
where it can provide greatest benefits to the
most people.
Environmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations will have to

change the way that they work to focus
3.3 Agrofuels, land-grabbing and landslides

Katja Maurer
rucial experiences are experiences that

expose realities one would normally have
no access to. For medico international, one
such crucial experience was Hurricane Mitch,
in Nicaragua. For here, a link between environmental degradation and disaster, between
the overexploitation of nature and marginalization, became apparent that ultimately was
to cost thousands of people their lives.
In the wake of the hurricane, medico international supported a group of smallholders
who had settled on the slopes of the volcano
Casita, and whose history illustrates this link.
Scattered among several small villages on the
slopes, in the shade of the tropical trees and
shrubs, they had grown beans and maize and
lived largely on a subsistence basis. From
Len, Nicaraguas second largest city, Casita
can be seen in the far distance, towering above
the fertile plains. A peaceful scene. Following
days of rainfall, the hurricane had broken
loose a roughly three-meter wide avalanche
of clay from its tip that made its way bit by bit
down the slope, turning into a kilometer-wide
avalanche of mud. Within a matter of minutes,
it buried countless people and destroyed five
villages.
The survivors gathered in emergency shelters
put up in Posoltega, deeply traumatized by
their incomprehensible experience. Children,
sons, grandmothers who had just been standing next to them a moment before had been
caught by the avalanche in front of their very
eyes. Among the people living in the resettlement project that medico was in charge of
at the time, there were individuals who had
lost up to 50 family members. In a room for
workshops in which psychosocial measures
are also performed, an exhibition is still on
display today with terrible newspaper pictures

that show the traumatizing incident. This is
how journalist Stephan Hebel described the
events at the time: The village of Rolando
Rodriguez had also been situated high up on
the mountain. Until Mitch came. When Mitch
went, Rolando Rodriguez was lying three, five
or even six meters under the mud. Anyone
taking a look around here will be walking
over dead bodies. To the right and left of the
temporary road, bushes and small trees have
taken root in the dried volcano soil, as if to
provide a merciful green shroud. According to
the cold statistics, Mitch killed 2,863 people in
Nicaragua, more than 2,500 in the villages on
the slopes of Casita.
11,000 killed by landslides
A total of 11,000 people were killed by Hurricane Mitch in Central America in 1998. Most
of the deaths were caused by landslides: the
peasant families on the slopes of the volcano
Casita or the urban poor in the poor districts
of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, which
are also located on slopes. How can it be
possible that in a region in which hurricanes
occur every few years, people should be living
on slopes on which they are exposed to such
predictable hazards?
The slopes of the volcano Casita are a good
location to trace back the history of settlements in this region threatened by landslides.
In the 1950s, the smallholders were driven
away from the fertile plains to the mountain
slopes by large-scale plantation management,
with cotton grown preferably. Already in those
days, this was a result of the global economy.
In 1950/51, the world market price of cotton
rose by 100 percent, triggering a boom in
cotton production in Nicaragua. Over the next

15 years, the plains, which were inhabited by
smallholders and medium-sized farmers, were
turned into a large-scale plantation zone. The
smallholders and farmers were compulsorily expropriated. Eighty percent of the land
suitable for crops in Nicaraguas Pacific Coast
zone was turned into cotton plantations.
The dictators agricultural reforms
A study on agricultural reform and environmental policy in Nicaragua states: Since the
areas needed were not free of settlements or
other use, the expansion of cotton-growing
caused the loss of the last forest stocks in the
Pacific Plains. A new wave of expropriation
and displacement of smallholders and farmers caused a decline in staple food production. In the provinces affected most severely,
Chinandega and Len, the area of cropland
for maize-growing was halved between 1950
and 1977, and was reduced by two-thirds for
beans. All in all, staple food production in the
Pacific region sank by 50 percent. The smallholders became landless seasonal workers,
migrated to the city slums or provided reinforcements for the frontera agricola. (Thielen
1988).
The frontera agricola (agricultural front)
was a dictatorial land reform. The then
Nicaraguan dictator Somoza brought tens of
thousands of people kept in poverty to the
Atlantic Coast and allocated land to them that
they were to make fertile with development
aid money from the USA. This was a settlement policy driven by a man craving for status
that failed after one year because the soils
were too poor, the land was exhausted and the
people had to move on. They returned to the
regions that they had originally come from.
Thus the cycle was completed. The former
smallholders and farmers from the plains
ended up on the slopes of Casita. The ecological disaster that had preceded the hurricane
was due to a development model celebrating
Case study: Vietnam
Salty soil in the river delta

Again and again, land is submerged in Vietnam. In 2011, for instance, the full impact of
Typhoon Nesat hit the countrys northern
coastal region, flooding the entire area. Cyclones are a familiar phenomenon that people
affected in Vietnam have become accustomed
to. However, climate change is resulting in an
increase in the frequency and intensity of the
typhoons. They cause severe flooding, destroy
cropland and claim large numbers of human
lives. In addition, environmental degradation
such as the clearing of protective mangrove
forests increases vulnerability towards extreme
natural events.
The World Bank ranks Vietnam among the five
countries most severely affected by climate
change (World Bank Group 2011). The rising
sea level is also a result of climate change.
It is a serious threat to Vietnam, given the
countrys coastline of roughly 3,600 kilometers
and the large river delta. This applies especially to the coastal province of Thai Binh, as a
survey by Australias International Centre for
Environmental Management demonstrates
(Carew-Reid 2008). This province has 50
kilometers of coast and lies about one to two
meters above sea level. Furthermore, Thai Binh
is crossed by four major rivers. The rising sea
level is resulting in more and more saltwater
penetrating the delta areas and making the
soil salty. Drinking water gained from the water of the rivers is threatened, too. According to
statements by Misereors partner organization
Centre for Community Socio-Economic and Environmental Development (CSEED), saltwater
is already reaching up to 20 kilometers into the
interior of the country.
The populations most important sources of income are rice-growing

and shrimp farms. Rice-growing is under a huge threat because the
rice paddies are irrigated with freshwater from the rivers. Owing to
the soil filling up with salt, there has been a massive decline in rice
production. A few years ago, each family was still bringing in 200
to 250 kilograms with each harvest. Today, just 80 to 100 kilograms
can be harvested in poor climate conditions and 160 to 180 kilograms in good conditions. But each family requires between 200
and 300 kilograms of rice to earn a living.
Just how severe the impact of anthropogenic environmental degradation can be is demonstrated by the example of the shrimp farms.
The excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilizer destroys the
ecosystem, and polluted water enters the natural cycle.
CSEED is addressing this dramatic situation. The primary objectives
of this project, which was launched in the summer of 2011, are to
secure the populations livelihood and check the impact of climate
change. The program targets around 1,200 families in five villages,
and local authority staff are also involved. The partner organizes
training courses aimed at sensitizing the smallholders towards
sustainable methods in agriculture and aquaculture. For example,
participants learn how to make compost and get to know other
biological fertilizing methods.
The people affected study the consequences of climate change in
workshops and learn how they can cope with them and simultaneously contribute to coastal conservation. One example is the development of mangrove forests along the coast that provide effective
protection against flooding and soil erosion. CSEED is supporting
the families in the reafforestation of mangroves. One aim is also to
involve the population directly. The families help with planting, are
responsible for looking after the mangroves and their conservation.
Radio broadcasts help boost an awareness of the protection that
nature offers and reach other people affected. In this manner, forest
stocks can be sustainably maintained.
In addition to coastal conservation, treating soil that has been filled
with salt is crucial. Supported by Misereor, CSEED is to test salt-tolerant rice varieties and disseminate a technical base for growing
these varieties in further training measures. Furthermore, shrimps
are to be bred at eco-farms.
large-scale plantations and growth, while

regarding the lives of the local people, their
social relationships and traditions and their
knowledge handed down by generations as
negligible. Through slash-and-burn clearing to
obtain land and wood for its poor inhabitants,
the land on the slopes of the volcano, already
threatened by erosion, lost all its stability. The
dramatic consequences of this vicious circle
of poverty, environmental degradation and
disaster have now been etched deeply into the
collective memory of the people from the region, as part of recollections that Nicaraguan
psychologist Marta Cabrera calls full of pain
in many ways (Cabrera 2002).
Fertile fallow land
In 1998, at the time of the hurricane disaster,
the boom in cotton production had long
ceased to be. It had shifted to other regions
across the world. The land lay fallow, and
through the agricultural reforms under
the Sandinista Government, which had
toppled the Somoza dictatorship, it had been
nationalized or collectivized. The survivors
of the Casita disaster occupied the land not
under cultivation on the plains. This has
resulted in the creation of the village of El
Tanque, which now offers almost 1,000 people
a place to live and was supported by medico
and German Government funding via the
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation
and Development. It was fortunate for the
former inhabitants of the Casita slopes for
worldwide economic pressure to take a break
towards the end of the 1990s.
Thus, in what can almost be described
as favorable conditions with hindsight,
the self-initiative of the peasant families
and integrated support measures ranging
from psychosocial support to training and
upgrading measures, the establishment of
credit funds and much else enabled a village
to be set up with social relationships and a
more or less sound economic base. The result
is measureable. For unlike many of their

neighbors who survived, the inhabitants have
not returned to the volcano slopes. They have
built up a new home for themselves.
The renaissance of large-scale plantations
It is doubtful whether this could once again
meet with success nowadays. For over the last
ten years, pressure on land in Central America
has been building up enormously. Now, there
is hardly any fallow land. Who sells land fetches a good price. For the old development model, the extensive management of cropland with
large-scale plantations, has returned. Today,
the focus is not on cotton, coffee or bananas
today, plants are in demand yielding products
that include agrofuels: sugar and the palm oil
tree. Unlike in large-scale plantation management in the 1960s, in which US American
agro-corporations like United Fruit played a
major role, there are powerful regional companies today, such as the Nicaraguan group
Pellas, one of the major sugar cane producers
in the region. Or the Widman group in Guatemala. These companies are highly modern enterprises with a department for social marketing, working with state-of-the-art technologies
and promising the local population a material
share of large-scale cultivation.
They have good reasons to keep an eye on
their image, for a huge amount of money is
at stake. The palm oil tree and sugar cane are
among those agricultural commodities that
are booming on the world market and are
not affected by any crisis. On the contrary,
seeking profitable investment, global capital
sees a secure future here given a thirst for
energy that it will probably be impossible
to quench over the next few years and even
decades. Thus demand for palm oil has risen
rapidly over the last few years, and experts
are speaking of constant growth rates of
around eight percent. (Sddeutsche Zeitung,
26.06.2012). The second largest flotation in
2012 following Facebook is the stock-market
launch by Malayan plantation growers Felda

Ventures. Palm oil is included not only in
agrofuels but also in hygiene articles and
in food ranging from potato crisps through
deep-freeze pizzas to chocolate bars. And
the food industry is just as crisis-proof as
gasoline production. For image reasons, many
manufacturers use the euphemism biofuels,
although these fuels bear nothing bio in the
sense of sustainability.
In Central America, the rapid spreading of
large-scale plantations has been the dominant
economic growth model over the last decade.
Guatemalan sociologist Laura Hurtado has
noted in a survey that over the last decade,
Guatemala has transformed from a food
self-sufficient country to a food-importing
country. The very food corporations earning
profits on the globally available ready-to-use
products which are also being imported to
Guatemala are either directly or indirectly involved in the spreading of the large-scale plantations with their socially and environmentally
harmful impacts (Hurtado 2008).
Destruction of the ecosystem
The National Institute of Statistics in Guatemala has compiled a detailed list of expansions of land under cultivation. Between 2003
and 2011, the cultivation of palm oil trees has
grown from 31,000 to approximately 100,000
hectares, and according to the survey by
Hurtado, the cultivation area for sugar from
188,000 in 2003 to almost 260,000 hectares
in 2007, with a tendency to rise still further.
Hurtado notes that the production and processing of the palm oil plant and of sugar cane
is in the hands of a small number of enterprises, further aggravating the concentration of
land under cultivation. The result is: These
processes are leading to a displacement of
rural communities, fundamentally changing areas that used to be producers of staple
foods, destroying forest areas and generating
earth movements through large-scale drain-
age drying up moorland, lagoons and other

sources of water. Ultimately, it is argued, this
process will result in the destruction of the
ecosystem and the loss of biodiversity.
However, there is far more damage to the
environment. The large-scale plantations
exhaust cropland, rendering it useless for a
long time. The pesticides applied are harmful
both to humans and to the environment. Frequently, they cause widespread contamination
of the groundwater that lasts for years. One
of the diseases that puts a severe strain on
both the people and the poor health systems
in these countries is chronic kidney insufficiency. The frequency of these symptoms
is characteristic in Nicaragua and the other
countries of Central America In comparison to
countries without sugar cane cultivation. The
displacement of the rural population results in
a shift of the agricultural border. If they do not
migrate to the cities or even leave the country,
they try their luck in regions that are not yet
under cultivation, which leads to further environmental degradation and above all increases the vulnerability of the population forced to
migrate.
Here, we come full circle. The danger
of disasters caused by environmental
degradation, such as the one that occurred
on the slopes of the volcano Casita, being
repeated at any time has been growing
considerably owing to large-scale plantations.
For there is one promise that the enterprises
make again and again but do not keep: the
promise of modernization, development and
secure living conditions, also for the poor.
Unlike in Brazil, where the government has at
least distributed surplus agribusiness profits
among the marginalized slum inhabitants in
the context of its social programs, none of
this is happening in the countries of Central
America.
The governments almost exclusively impose
indirect taxes. The large-scale enterpris-
es, which usually belong to the established

oligarchy, pay virtually no tax. In this sense,
the Central American countries continue to be
banana republics now under the control of
the national oligarchies.
Forced displacement in the Polochic Valley
One example of the companies action in
close cooperation with the state, and above
all military, structures in Guatemala is the
forced displacement of 14 communities in
the Polochic Valley, in the District of Alta
Verapaz, in March 2011. Hundreds of police,
troops and private security staff drove out
thousands of inhabitants, demolishing their
houses and burning up the harvest under
the pretext that the residents had illegally
acquired the land. The backdrop of this is
the massive spread of sugar cane cultivation
in the valley by Guatemalan companies, in
cooperation with the powerful Nicaraguan
Pellas group. According to a report in the
newspaper Prensa Libre of the 01.02.2012,
the company invested around USD 18 million
in the expansion of the area under cultivation
in 2011 and was also planning this for 2012.
Then there are loans totaling more than USD
50 million that have been provided by the
Inter-American Development Bank.
But things are not quite as simple as they
used to be when dictatorial regimes were
holding a grip on Central America and
giving the oligarchs a free hand. The dispute
over the Polochic Valley has become a
symbol of resistance against the exploitative
development model. In March 2012, the
smallholders marched hundreds of kilometers
and managed to wring initial concessions from
the Government in Guatemala City. The InterAmerican Commission for Human Rights
sided with the 14 communities that had been
displaced using force. Guatemalan civil society
organizations provided lawyers in order to
represent the interests of the peasants, who
were of indigenous origin. Here, they refer
Case study: Burkina Faso
Using stone walls and robust trees to combat erosion

Already for the third time in a decade, the people
in the Sahel are threatened with acute hunger. The
reason for the food crisis is a lack of rainfall and
the severe decline in crop yield that it has brought
about. That people in the Sahel should be so vulnerable to drought is also due to massive environmental degradation caused by excessively intensive
land use. For as a rule, a poor peasant family can
only till 1.5 hectares of cropland, whereas a rich
peasant family using oxen can manage up to three
hectares. Most of the peasants have to make very
intensive use of their land and are unable to maintain the fallow periods that are vital for the soil to
regenerate.
The result is a decline in vegetation or even its
complete disappearance, precipitation draining off
fast and directly on the surface, water shortage, soil
erosion or soil filling with sand and sand carried
by the wind destroying infrastructure. The land
becomes infertile and barren, and what is known
as desertification sets in. A dramatic vicious cycle is
triggered, with ever less fertile land being available
that necessitates a more and more intensive use of
the still existing fertile land, the result being that
here too, the degradation process takes over more
and more rapidly.
Welthungerhilfe has already been working together
with its partners to combat desertification in the
Sahel for years. Thanks to an appropriate and sustainable use of the water and soil resources, the environmental situation is improving. For example, in
Burkina Faso, in cooperation with the organizations
Association Zood Nooma, Association de Dveloppement Sougri Nooma and Association Lutte
contre la Dsertification, soil and water retaining
measures are being carried out together with the
peasants. In all, these measures reach a total of 1.3
million inhabitants in the four provinces of Bam,

Sanmantenga, Ganzourgou and Oubritenga.
Here too, a high population density, the excessive
use of cropland and pastureland and the decline in
annual precipitation levels in combination with
more frequent heavy rain have led to an erosion
of land used for farming. Fertility has declined, and
ever larger areas of cropland have to be cultivated
to attain the same yields. These areas are gained by
clear-cutting the savannah, which additionally robs
the soils of their natural protection the onset of
the disastrous cycle of desertification.
The consultants from the partner organizations and
so-called village trainers train the peasants in constructing and maintaining mechanical and biological
erosion protection systems. The peasants join forces
to build stone walls and smaller dams, and they
plant them with the robust and drought-resistant
Jatropha trees and shrubs. Held back by the stone
walls, strong rainfall only drains off slowly from the
fields, and small erosion channels and holes see to
it that water uptake by the soil is improved. In this
manner, the groundwater reserves are replenished.
Planting the walls also reduces erosion and has a
favorable effect on the microclimate.
Village committees are established in order to
develop this process sustainably. Finance required
for necessary investments is also raised by the
communities themselves. The dissemination of
soil conservation methods is performed chiefly
via multipliers from village groups who train other
farmer organizations. The partner organizations are
ready to provide any advice needed. The project has
already shown success during the food crisis in the
Sahel. Many of the peasants benefiting from the
Welthungerhilfe project have had better harvests
and are thus less vulnerable to the drought.
to international legal standards that cannot

simply be ignored by the government and the
enterprises. Such disputes over the expansion
of land under cultivation are happening in
many places in Guatemala. Often, they already
start with resistance against the extension of
infrastructure projects such as the Franja
Transversal highway. Not without reason,
the population fear that together with the
highway, large-scale plantations will be
entering the scene, and that they will see a
return of the military, who were involved in
a systematic extermination of the indigenous
population in the civil war of the 1980s.
Alternative growth models
This may look like the hopeless struggle of the
weavers against the machines. But it could
also bear similarities with the doubts that
citizens in Germany have about infrastructural
models robbing them of sleep. The humble life
of the peasants in Guatemala may not be an
idyll. But the villagers are aware of the threats

to life and limb that migrating and the urban
slums bear. The Latin American debates over
alternatives to the exploitative growth model,
to the overexploitation of nature and the
environment, which also consider indigenous
concepts of how nature should be treated and
how people should relate to it, are fueling
these disputes in a new manner. It is not
without reason that relief and human rights
organizations such as medico international
are supporting the actors in these debates.
The Nicaraguan village of El Tanque is an
example of an integrated model in harmony
with nature and the local population that
reduces peoples vulnerability in the context
of environmental degradation. However, one
village cannot stop the global market and its
possible impacts harming the environment. So
it is essential for aid aiming to take preventive
measures against disasters to participate in
the quest for alternatives to the prevalent
growth models.
3.4 Environmental degradation, poverty and disaster risk

on the international development agenda
Jens Martens
he link between environmental degradation, poverty and disaster risk has already
been a subject of debate since the 1970s.
However, the political discourses over the
topic frequently progressed independently
of one another. Greater political attention
has been given to the relationships since the
UN Conference on Sustainable Development
2012 (Rio+20). Disaster risk reduction has
become one of the emerging issues on the
Rio+20 agenda.
However, in this area too, the governments
failed to agree on substantial political and
financial commitments in Rio de Janeiro in

June 2012. They merely emphasized their
willingness to step up their cooperation in the
context of a new international agreement on
disaster risk reduction.
The present agreement, the Hyogo Framework
for Action, expires in 2015, and the preparations for a renegotiation have already started.
The challenge over the next three years will
be to turn this topic into an integral element
of international negotiations on environment
and development.
Disaster risk and the discourse on sustainability a brief look back

The Brundtland Commission already
pointed out the links between environmental
degradation, disasters, poverty and
development in its 1987 report, Our Common
Future (United Nations 1987), noting that as
early as the 1970s, six times as many people
had died owing to disasters resulting from
extreme natural events as in the previous
decade. To a growing extent, droughts and
floods had been caused by deforestation and
overcultivation of soils. The victims had first
and foremost been impoverished groups of
the population in Asia, Latin America and, in
particular, Africa.
The governments responded to the
devastating drought and flood disasters of
the 1970s and 1980s by proclaiming 1990
1999 the International Decade for Natural
Disaster Reduction (IDNDR), from which the
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
(ISDR) subsequently emerged (www.unisdr.
org). Marking halftime in the decade, with
the adoption of the Yokohama Strategy and
the 1994 Plan of Action for a Safe World,
the governments put a stronger emphasis
on the socio-economic factors of disasters.
The Strategy also related to the results of the
first UN Conference on Environment and
Development, which had been held in Rio de
Janeiro two years before.
In its extensive results, the 1992 Rio
Conference also focused on the growing
danger of disasters owing to extreme natural
events. Agenda 21, the Rio Conference plan
of action, addresses the issues of disaster
preparedness and risk reduction in various
contexts. Reference made to disasters caused
by industry is particularly noteworthy. (UN
1992, Chap. 7, para. 57):
there is an urgent need to address the
prevention and reduction of man-made
Case study: Peru
Applying traditional knowledge

to cope with the consequences of
climate change
A study by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
refers to Peru as the third country most severely affected
by climate-conditioned change (Andersen et. al 2009). It is
regularly exposed to extreme weather events with grave
consequences, above all flooding, landslides, drought and cold
snaps. The number of disasters increased six-fold between 1990
and 2000. According to the national council on environmental
issues, seven out of ten of these disasters were climateconditioned and it has to be feared that climate change,
which is also directly related to anthropogenic environmental
degradation, is going to further exacerbate the situation. The
coast and the highlands are particularly affected by climateconditioned disasters.
The coastal region is regularly stricken by the El Nio
phenomenon, which involves heavy rainfall as well as
considerable dryness. The 1997/1998 Nio resulted in damage
amounting to 3.5 billion US dollars. This corresponds to roughly
4.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (Rosenberger 2007).
Climate change is posing new challenges: The rainy season,
which used to last from November to April, has been shortened
to the months from January to March. The streams that are
important for irrigation in agriculture carry less water, and there
is an unusual extent of hail as well as increased pest infestation
in the countrys more low-lying regions. Warming is evident
especially at higher altitudes, and coincides with a marked
shrinking of glaciers. The area of the Peruvian Andes covered
with ice diminished by 27 percent between 1970 and 2003,
the Peruvian water authority announced (Der Standard 2009).
The massive decline in water reserves that this caused as well
as cold snaps and droughts are threatening the livelihoods of
the local population. And this is occurring at a time when every
second Peruvian is already living in poverty.
The growing intensity of solar radiation, which is leading to
fields drying up, given simultaneously sinking groundwater
levels, presents a further problem. Rainfall sets in at a later
disasters and/or disasters caused by, inter

alia, industries, unsafe nuclear power
generation and toxic wastes
stage, but then it comes as cloudbursts resulting in flooding that
washes away the harvest and fertile soil. Crop failure is causing
supply bottlenecks, and there is a growing threat of malnutrition.
Smallholders who are no longer to able to feed their families
adequately work as day laborers in plantations or in the cities.
The people of Peru have been familiar with difficult and changing living conditions for thousands of years. They have responded to this by
breeding plant varieties adapted to the climate and practicing specialized cultivating methods in the mountain regions. Peru can still
boast around 3,000 potato varieties that are adapted to the different
climate and soil conditions. But for decades, ministries and international seed corporations have been calling for new, higher yielding
varieties that have been optimized in laboratories, which is why
many farmers are opting for the novelties. However, their growth
depends much more strongly on additional input such as fertilizer
and pesticides as well as a steady climate. If neither of these factors
is guaranteed, the yields of the smallholders will decline drastically,
and they will run into debt.
This is why terre des hommes has been supporting local organizations such as the association Bartolome Aripaylla (ABA) in the
community of Quispillaqta with cultivating traditional varieties since
the mid-1980s. This enables the smallholders to feed their families.
In addition, as a rule, cultivating such varieties is environmentally
friendly and healthy. In the community of Quispillaqta, near Ayacucho, ABA is helping to run seed fairs with financial support from
terre des hommes. The adoption of Indio knowledge in the school
curricula is being promoted. More than 6,500 peasant families as
well as the city of Ayacucho with its 150.000 inhabitants are benefiting from the reafforestation of 481 hectares of new forest, soil
conservation measures, the community maintenance of 1,600 water
springs and the digging of 73 ponds.
In contrast, the relationships between disaster risk reduction and more comprehensive
strategies for sustainable development were
still receiving too little attention at the first
Rio Conference. This was to change ten years
later, at the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in
2002. In its final declaration, the governments
describe a crisis scenario of growing environmental degradation and more and more
frequent disasters owing to extreme natural
events (Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development). Setting out from this, they
formulated a package of measures to reduce
disaster risk and agreed to enhance the role of
the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and step up its financing.
Three years later, at the World Conference
on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, the
general mission of the Johannesburg Summit
was translated into a comprehensive tenyear action program that still represents
the international key document in the field
of disaster risk reduction today. In the
Hyogo Framework for Action 20052015,
the governments formulated the following
strategic goals (UNISDR 2005, para. 12):
+
A more effective integration of disaster

risk considerations into politics, planning
and program development for sustainable
development at all levels, with particular
attention being given to the prevention
or mitigation of disasters as well as being
prepared for the occurrence of disasters
and vulnerability reduction.
Developing and strengthening institutions, mechanisms and capacities at all

levels, especially the community level, to
systematically build resilience to natural
disasters.
The systematic integration of risk reduction approaches into the fleshing out and
implementation of programs for emergency relief, coping and rehabilitation in the
areas affected.
Thus the governments laid down the foundations for an integration of measures to reduce
disaster risk into more comprehensive sustainable development strategies. However,
progress made since then has remained limited. In the run-up to the Rio+20 Conference,
the United Nations noted in a Background Paper (UN DESA 2011): Despite some progress,
the implementation is still not sufficient given
the fact that the worlds exposure to natural
hazards is growing faster than its vulnerability
to these can be reduced. Effective implementation of the internationally agreed goals on
disaster preparedness and resilience requires
a cross-ministerial, multi-stakeholder and
multi-hazard approach and there is still a long
way to go to achieve this.
Disaster risk reduction as a Rio+20 Conference topic
Originally, no provisions had been made for
disaster risk reduction as a topic on the agenda of the Rio+20 Conference. Rio+20 was to
focus chiefly on two issues: the Green Economy in the context of sustainable development
and poverty reduction and the institutional
framework for sustainable development (UN
2009). But in the course of the preparation
process for the Rio+20, the topic gained
significance. The United Nations adopted
disaster readiness in the list of seven priority
areas of activity that were to be given special
attention at Rio+20 (www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture).
In its report published end January 2012,
the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability
appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon already addressed the target of enhancing the resilience of societies, also to natural
events, in its title, Resilient People, Resilient

Planet (UN Secretary-Generals High Level
Panel on Global Sustainability 2012). Especially with a view to the necessary adaptations
to climate change, measures to reduce the risk
of disasters were needed. The Panel noted
(ibid., Item 134): Disaster risk reduction is
about much more than just emergency management on the contrary, to be fully effective
it must be integrated into all sectors of development and cover both measures to avoid
disasters and measures to mitigate damage
when they do occur.
As a conclusion from this, the Panel addressed
three recommendations to the governments
that were above all aimed at developing programs to cope with the social and economic
impacts of disasters, compile regional vulnerability assessments and preventive strategies
and increase finance for measures to reduce
the risk of disasters.
The governments took up the topic in the preparatory process for the Rio+20 Conference
in different ways. The Japanese Government
has traditionally been particularly active in its
efforts to reduce disaster risks ensuing from
extreme natural events (Government of Japan
2011). In the run-up to Rio, it demanded that
disaster risk reduction become one of the
central pillars in national sustainable development policies. The Hyogo Framework for
Action, which ends in 2015, the target year for
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs,
see Box on page 61), ought to be replaced
with a new agreement that needed to form
an integral element of the post-2015 development agenda. This was aimed at ensuring a
mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into
development policies (Government of Japan
2011).
Flanking Japans activities, a group of
Friends of Disaster Risk Reduction formed
in the United Nations as a political lobby
in the run-up to the Rio+20 Conference. It
was headed jointly by Australia, Indonesia,

Norway and Peru. Its other members were
Denmark, Ecuador, Mexico, Morocco,
Mozambique, the Philippines, New Zealand,
Switzerland and Timor Leste. Whereas large
parts of the Conference were characterized
by a confrontation between the classical
negotiating blocs from the industrialized
and developing countries, this group formed
one of the few cross-bloc coalitions. In a
joint statement, it stressed the urgent need
for a reduction of the social, economic
and ecological impacts of disasters caused
by extreme natural events. With a view
to the Outcome Document of the Rio+20
Conference, the group announced (Friends of
Disaster Risk Reduction 2012):
We call for strong and strategic language
() that recognises disaster risk reduction as
fundamental to achieving sustainable development and places it at the heart of the future
development agenda.
In the positions held by the key negotiating
actors of the Rio+20 Conference, the Group
of 77 (G77), the European Union (EU) and the
USA, this topic played a less prominent role:
+ The EU only mentioned natural disasters
in the context of preserving coral reefs and
the future range of tasks to be assigned to
an upgraded UN Environmental Program
(UNEP) (EU 2011, Chap. II, para. 70 and
Chap. III, para. 21).
of natural disasters and their long-term

negative social, economic and ecological
consequences, and stressed the obvious
relationship between sustainable development, poverty reduction, climate change
and disaster risk reduction (G77 2011,
para. 15).
In the negotiations on the Outcome
Document of the Rio+20 Conference, no
grave controversies arose over the chapter on
disaster risk reduction, unlike, for example,
with the topics Green Economy and UNEP
reform. However, Rio+20 failed to achieve a
translation of the general appeals for better
cooperation, coordination and financing
of activities to reduce the risk of disasters
into a concrete package of measures. This
is obviously intended to be reserved for the
further discussion process on the post-2015
development agenda and the follow-up
agreement for the Hyogo Framework for
Action.
In the Outcome Document of the Rio+20 Conference, the governments mainly focused on
the following general statements (cf. Box):
+ Disaster risk reduction is to be integrated
into the future development programs at all
levels.
+ Early warning systems and risk assessment
are to be improved, and international cooperation is to be stepped up in this sector.
+ The USA argued the case for improved

disaster preparedness and response, especially in the context of promoting sustainable cities and creating new, green jobs
(United States 2011).
+ The mutual relationships between disaster

risk reduction and long-term development
planning are to be considered in the context
of comprehensive and better coordinated
strategies.
+ In its statement, the G77 only made general references to the corresponding passages
in the Implementation Plan of Johannesburg, professed its deep concerns
over the growing number and intensity
+ A gender perspective is to be considered in

all phases of disaster management.
Case study: Indonesia
Lowering the disaster risk with training

The island state of Indonesia is particularly strongly exposed to extreme weather events and comes 28th in the
list of the most strongly exposed countries in the 2012
WorldRiskIndex. These forces of nature are a hazard to human lives, are destroying the environment and, moreover,
are threatening local and national development initiatives.
In addition to earthquakes and volcano eruptions owing
to the countrys location along the geological fault of the
Pacific, it is above all climate change that has been leading
to a dangerous increase in the frequency and intensity of
extreme weather events. Environmental degradation is
raising the populations vulnerability towards natural hazards. Especially the poor are affected.
Together with Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, Brot fr die Welt
is campaigning for these people: in West Java, where the
rising sea level and the filling up of soil with salt owing to
seawater flowing in are threatening peoples livelihoods,
and in South Sulawesi, where clear-cutting for the development of cocoa plantations is raising the threat of landslides.
Together with partner organizations and the local population Brot fr die Welt conducted risk analyses early in
2010, at the beginning of the project, which is scheduled
for ten years. The inhabitants of South Sulawi identified the
neglect of reafforestation by the authorities as the reason
for the landslides that destroyed their fields and houses.
They addressed the local authorities with demands for reafforestation and the establishment of forest conservation
zones. The inhabitants of the villages in West Java were
initially unable to do anything about seawater penetrating
their wells and fields. However, in workshops, they learnt
how to use new irrigation methods and no longer obtain
their drinking water from the well but from springs lying at
a higher level.
The aid programs directly assess more than 2,000 people
each in the areas. Several times as many local people
benefit indirectly, around 40,000 people in West Java and
just under 20,000 people in South Sulawesi. The training
programs were developed holistically for the population
and for multipliers such as non-governmental organizations
and local authorities. In this manner, the people affected
learn what to do in a disaster event and familiarize themselves with measures to prevent damage through erosion
and crop failure as well as methods to adapt agriculture
and households in the threatened areas. This also includes
generating and using regenerative energies (solar panels
instead of kerosene lamps, biogas instead of wood firing,
using hydropower).
Three major goals are being pursued with these projects:
+ Adapting peasant lives and livelihoods to the
changed conditions
This includes research and training programs on organic
farming, the rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage channels, the reafforestation of mangrove forests, the construction of community composting plants, the introduction of
new species and varieties, especially regarding coffee and
cocoa, and the introduction of organic kitchen gardens for
self-supply and marketing.
+ Empowering the population
The setting up of peasant self-help groups, training in constructive conflict resolution (for conflict events in land use)
and in disaster prevention, the establishment of community committees and the development of community-focused
risk and emergency management prepare the population
for extreme natural events and enable them to claim their
rights.
+ Peoples climate protection
Research and development of alternative energy solutions
as well as lobbying activities for the integration of climate
protection measures into local and regional/national budget plans enhance the populations contribution to climate
protection.
Integrating these local projects into a larger reference
frame and communicating at regional and national as well
as international level gives due consideration to the global
significance that the threat posed by climate change has.
But the chief actor is, and will continue to be, the local population making an effort to achieve safe and sustainable
living conditions in their villages and regions.
Next steps towards the Post-2015 Development Agenda

The relationship between environmental
degradation, poverty and disaster risk has
received more attention in the context of
the Rio+20 Conference. Australian Foreign
Secretary Bob Carr already referred to an
unprecedented international momentum to
reduce disaster risk (Friends of Disaster Risk
Reduction 2012) in the UN General Assembly
in April 2012. In the following three years, it
will be crucial to translate the political appeals
formulated in the Rio+20 process into practical action in a Hyogo follow-up agreement.
The follow-up process after the Rio+20
Conference and the debates over the future
of the MDGs and the post-2015 development
agenda offer the opportunity to systematically consider the topic of disaster risks in
these contexts. At the same time, the specific
debates on this topic will continue to be held
in the responsible international bodies and at
special thematic conferences. Thus, over the
next three years, there are going to be at least
four parallel discussion and negation strands
at global level:
+
The debates on a post-Hyogo agreement

are going to reach an initial climax with
the forth session of the Global Platform
for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, in
May 2013. At the third World Conference
on Disaster Reduction 2015 in Japan, they
are to lead to the adoption of a follow-up
agreement for the Hyogo Framework for
Action.
Thanks to the appointment of a High-level Panel for the Post-2015 Development

Agenda by UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon in July 2012, the discussions
over the future of the MDGs have gained
momentum. The report by this Panel
is to provide the basis for the next (and
expected to be the last) MDG Summit
of the UN General Assembly in fall 2013.

The resolutions are to be put into concrete
terms in the subsequent two years in order for the future UN development agenda
to be passed at a further summit meeting
in 2015.
+
As a result of the Rio+20 Conference,

the UN General Assembly is to appoint
a 30-member working group of government representatives in fall 2012 that
is to develop a proposal for a future set
of universal Sustainable Development
Goals within a years time. With specific
targets and indicators, the new set of goals
is to form a core element of the Post-2015
Development Agenda.
In the international climate negotiations,

the governments committed themselves
in the Durban Platform in December 2012
to negotiate a new climate agreement
by 2015 that is also to include measures
aimed at reducing the risk of disasters
Thus all these processes are to culminate in

2015. By then, the central challenge will be
to systematically integrate these processes.
The aim has to be to really turn disaster risk
reduction into an integral element of a post2015 development agenda.
Excerpt from the Final Document of the Rio+20 Conference:

The future we want
Disaster risk reduction
186.
We reaffirm our commitment to the Hyogo

Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of
Nations and Communities to Disasters and call for States,
the United Nations system, the international financial
institutions, subregional, regional and international
organizations and civil society to accelerate implementation
of the Framework and the achievement of its goals. We call
for disaster risk reduction and the building of resilience to
disasters to be addressed with a renewed sense of urgency
in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication, and, as appropriate, to be integrated into
policies, plans, programmes and budgets at all levels and
considered within relevant future frameworks. We invite
governments at all levels as well as relevant subregional,
regional and international organizations to commit to
adequate, timely and predictable resources for disaster
risk reduction in order to enhance the resilience of cities
and communities to disasters, according to their own
circumstances and capacities.
We stress the importance of stronger interlinkages

among disaster risk reduction, recovery and long-term
development planning, and call for more coordinated
and comprehensive strategies that integrate disaster risk
reduction and climate change adaptation considerations
into public and private investment, decision-making
and the planning of humanitarian and development
actions, in order to reduce risk, increase resilience and
provide a smoother transition between relief, recovery
and development. In this regard, we recognize the need
to integrate a gender perspective into the design and
implementation of all phases of disaster risk management.
187. We recognize the importance of early warning
189. We call for all relevant stakeholders, including
systems as part of effective disaster risk reduction at all

levels in order to reduce economic and social damages,
including the loss of human life, and in this regard
encourage States to integrate such systems into their
national disaster risk reduction strategies and plans. We
encourage donors and the international community to
enhance international cooperation in support of disaster
risk reduction in developing countries, as appropriate,
through technical assistance, technology transfer
as mutually agreed, capacity-building and training
programmes.
We further recognize the importance of comprehensive

hazard and risk assessments, and knowledge- and
information- sharing, including reliable geospatial
information. We commit to undertake and strengthen in a
timely manner risk assessment and disaster risk reduction
instruments.
188.
Governments, international, regional and subregional

organizations, the private sector and civil society, to take
appropriate and effective measures, taking into account the
three dimensions of sustainable development, including
through strengthening coordination and cooperation to
reduce exposure to risk for the protection of people, and
infrastructure and other national assets, from the impact of
disasters, in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action and
any post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction.
(United Nations General Assembly 2012)
4. Disaster risk reduction

a key element of global
sustainability policy
Peter Mucke, Jens Martens, Katrin Radtke
Political awareness of the relationships between environmental

degradation, poverty and disaster risks has grown in the context
of the UN Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). It
was urgently necessary for this to happen, for to a growing extent,
disasters are being aggravated by intrusions of human beings into
nature such as the overcultivation of land, deforestation and clearcutting of coastal vegetation, the destruction of coral reefs or river
regulation. With progressive climate change, the disaster risk is set
to further increase. The threat of uncontrollable new technologies
(such as in the context of geo-engineering) and an insistence
upon highly risky obsolete technologies (such as nuclear power) are
additionally exacerbating the risk of disasters.
ot only do large-scale disasters cause immense human suffering, they also create
massive costs for the economy. Within next to
no time, they can wipe out years of progress in
development. Thus the reduction of disasters
is both a moral imperative and an economic
necessity. It is a basic precondition for sustainable development and requires greater
coordinated action from the local to the global
level.
In the past, disaster prevention and immediate disaster relief was often treated in isolation from longer-term strategies for sustainable development. Even today, this is reflected
in separate political responsibilities and
institutional competences. A growing number
of governments and civil society organizations
have learned lessons from the deficits in coherence and coordination and are now calling
for activities to reduce disaster risk to be fully
integrated into more comprehensive strategies
and policies of sustainable development. The
Rio+20 process has provided a political forum
for these demands.
In the coming three years, it will be crucial to
translate the political demands made there
into practical action, agree a follow-up agreement for the anti-disaster program of Hyogo
and adopt its disaster risk reduction strategies
as an integral element of the new, Post-2015
Development Agenda and the climate negotiations.
Alliance Development Works demands that
any Post-Hyogo Agreement should be based
on four general goals that are oriented on the
four components of the WorldRiskIndex:
1. Reducing the threat of extreme natural
events:
In order to eliminate the root causes of growing disaster risks, there is a particular need for
effective measures to mitigate climate change
and counter the degradation of soils and vegetation.
2. Reducing structural vulnerability:

This above all calls for improvements in the
social and economic living conditions of
vulnerable people. Measures here comprise
combating poverty and hunger and reducing
income disparities.
3. Raising the capacities to cope with disasters:
This includes strengthening public institutions
and developing social security systems, but
also the stepping up of disaster preparedness
and early warning.
4. Improving measures to adapt to disaster
risks:
These comprise investments in more resilient
infrastructure and ecosystems as well as
improvements in education and research
and equal participation of people threatened
by disasters in political decision-making
processes.
On the basis of this general set of goals,
elements for the Post-Hyogo Agreement
and the new Development Agenda that the
governments ought to resolve include:
+ Realizing a human right to disaster preparedness:
The basic rights of people in the event of a
disaster are, inter alia, governed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (particularly
Articles 3 and 25) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(the Social Pact). The principles of the 1992
Rio Declaration and the Millennium Declaration of 2000 in particular the polluter principle (with regard to responsibility for climate
change), the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities as well as the solidarity
principle are quite clear: People affected by
disasters have a right to support, and disaster
risk reduction is not merely a humanitarian
challenge for governments but also a human
rights obligation.
+ Improving the disaster information base:

Sufficient information is of essential importance to preventing and coping with disasters.
For this reason, governments ought to systematically make risk assessments, establish threat
potentials, compile contingency plans and
calculate the costs of possible disasters ex ante.
Also, all private enterprises potentially affected by disasters ought to be obliged to conduct
corresponding risk assessments. This applies
in particular prior to the introduction of new,
as yet untested technologies that could have
a massive ecological impact, such as forms of
geo-engineering. All this information ought
to be provided to the public free of charge. In
the event of a disaster, it is also important for
the public and the media to be supplied with
comprehensive and immediate information.
An independent checking of information has
to be ensured.
+ Ensuring equal participation:
In order to enhance adaptability to environmental change and raise coping capacities
in the event of a disaster, the people affected
have to be comprehensively integrated into
the political decision-making processes at
community and national level, with equal
participation of women being ensured. This
also applies to the coordination and allocation of disaster relief. Here, the basis for
decision-making includes gender studies and
statistics that can be broken down according
to gender, too.
+ Setting standards to make infrastructure
disaster-proof:
In order to reduce vulnerability to disasters
and reduce the extent of potential harm
and damage, physical infrastructure in the
respective regions has to be made disasterproof. One precondition for this is adequate
construction and safety standards for
buildings, bridges, roads, etc. Complying with
them has to be systematically monitored in
the countries at risk, and should the need
arise, it has to be financially supported via the
Terms used in the Post-2015

Development Agenda
Millennium Development
Goals
In 2000, the heads of states and governments
from more than 150 countries adopted the
United Nations Millennium Declaration.
One of the items it contained was a set of
internationally agreed development goals that
were to subsequently become referred to as
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
and act as a guiding concept in international
development politics. With them, the discourse
on development focused on addressing
the most extreme forms of poverty and
hunger and on basic social provisions for the
population, especially in the fields of primary
education, health and water supply. Most of
the MDGs are linked to clear quantitative,
and therefore verifiable, objectives that
are to be reached by 2015. Together with
what are now 21 sub-targets and 60
indicators, the eight MDGs form an important
reference frame for poverty reduction and
development. However, they also bear severe
shortcomings, for the structural framework
conditions of development remain just as
much in the dark in the MDG catalogue as
the ecological dimension of development
does. Neither do human rights, democracy
or good governance play any substantial
role. Finally, the modes of consumption and
production of the industrialized countries,
with their grave consequences regarding
climate change and the increase in the risk
of disasters, are not addressed in the MDGs.
At the 2010 MDG Summit, the governments
commissioned the UN Secretary General
with the task of developing proposals on the
future of the MDGs and the United Nations
Development Agenda after 2015. Since then,
intensive debates have started on the Post2015 Development Agenda. In parallel, at the
public budget and international development

cooperation.
Rio+20 Summit, the governments resolved to formulate universal

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As yet, it remains unclear
how this process is to be combined with the discussions over the
Post-2015 Development Agenda. The Outcome Document of Rio
merely states that the processes are to develop in a coordinated
and coherent manner.
Hyogo Framework for Action

The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was the central outcome
of the second World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe,
in 2005 (UNISDR 2005). It was signed by 168 member states. The
HFA is a ten-year plan aimed basically at substantially reducing
losses resulting from extreme natural events. The HFA defines
five priorities for action that are to contribute to disaster risk
reduction: 1. Ensuring that disaster risk reduction becomes a
national priority and a strong institutional basis for implementation
is established. 2. Identifying, monitoring and assessing the
respective disaster risk. 3. Supporting early warning. 4. Taking
advantage of knowledge, innovation and education to develop a
culture of security and resilience at all levels. 5. Reducing the risk
factors behind disasters and strengthening disaster preparedness
in order to enable an effective response at all levels. Thus the HFA
is the first plan to describe processes in detail that are necessary
in the various sectors to reduce disaster risk. The implementation
of the HFA is being coordinated by the Secretariat of the United
Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR),
which regularly reports on progress made in putting the plan into
practice.
Rio Conference 1992

The UN Conference on Environment and Development, (UNCED)
in Rio de Janeiro is regarded as a milestone in the international
discussion on sustainable development. At the time, this meeting,
which is also referred to as the Earth Summit, was the largest
international conference in human history. The official results of the
Earth Summit were the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Agenda 21, the conventions on climate change and
biological diversity negotiated in the run-up to the Conference and
a forest declaration containing principles of forest management
and forest conservation.
+ Integrating disaster risk reduction in development planning:

All sustainable development strategies ought
to serve the goal of reducing the risk of disasters, too. This applies both to the countries immediately exposed to extreme natural events
and those indirectly influencing hazards
via their policies (for example their climate
policies). There are items to set out from in all
policy areas. For example, consistent measures
to protect the climate and the prevention of an
overexploitation of forests and soil erosion can
reduce the hazard potential. Public investment in rural development, the preservation
of ecosystems and sustainable urban development can reduce structural susceptibility
to disasters. Improving government disaster
preparedness, the setting up of public early
warning systems, an across-the-board development of the public health system and the
establishment of social security systems raise
capacities to cope with disasters.
+ Sufficient finance for disaster risk reduction:
Disaster risk reduction is not free of charge.
But increasing investment in disaster preparedness saves a multiple of costs arising for
coping and rehabilitation once a disaster has
set in. Greater public investment in disaster
preparedness therefore also makes sense for
the economy as a whole. This applies to the
public budgets of the countries affected, which
ought to provide more finance for disaster risk
reduction. But it also applies to international
development cooperation. For here too, given
the need for emergency relief and rehabilitation support after a disaster has set in, each
euro spent in projects on disaster preparedness
will save higher costs. Moreover, financial support is not merely a charity issue but is also one
of economic reason as well as being a human
rights and international law obligation. For
not only is it the extraterritorial duty of states
to provide support. It generally applies that,
in accordance with the polluter pays principle, those countries are held liable for harm
and damage that have caused it. First and
foremost, in the case of aggravated disasters
(flooding, droughts, etc.) caused by climate
change, these tend to be the traditional industrialized countries.
+ Strategically and institutionally enhancing
policy coherence:
Reducing disaster risk is a cross-sectoral task
for politics to address. At international level,
this has to imply that this task is considered
in all debates on global sustainability and the
new, Post-2015 Development Agenda. That
at least a few modest steps into this direction
have been made at the Rio+20 Summit is a
positive signal. However, the European Union
in particular ought to give this topic higher
political priority in the ongoing and future
international negotiations than it has done
so far. Above all, the governments ought to
see to it that disaster risk reduction is established in the agenda of the new High Level
Political Forum for Sustainable Development.
But at national level too, this topic ought to
be integrated into the respective sustainability strategies. To enhance policy coherence,
attention also ought to be given to overcome
the institutional separating of development
cooperation and disaster relief/humanitarian
aid into different ministries as is the case in
Germany, for example.
+ Including disaster risk reduction in the
future set of global sustainability goals:
In order to make disaster preparedness and
coping with disasters an integral element of
a Post-2015 Development Agenda, it would
make sense to consider the issue in a future
set of global sustainability goals, too. Although a large number of potential goals, for
example in the field of poverty eradication,
reducing income disparities and limiting per
capita CO2 emissions, also implicitly serve
the reduction of vulnerability and hazards,
they ought to be supplemented by specific
In its core, the Rio Declaration stresses the

holistic character of development by combining environmental, social and economic goals,
as well as social participation and democracy.
One of the chief causes of global problems has
been seen in the unsustainable production and
consumption patterns in the rich countries. It
is from this that the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities, established in
the Rio Declaration, follows for the preservation of the Earths ecosystems. In this principle,
the industrialized countries acknowledged
for the first time the responsibility that they
bear in the international pursuit to sustainable
development in view of the pressures their
societies place on the global environment and
of the technologies and financial resources they
command (Rio Declaration, Principle 7). This
principle is also of considerable importance in
the debate on disaster risk reduction.
Climate negotiations and the

Kyoto Protocol
The climate negotiations at international
level are also of considerable importance to
disaster risk reduction. The chief basis is the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,
which the United Nations adopted in 1992.
Concrete measures are negotiated in particular
in the context of the annual Conference of
Parties (COP) by the current 194 states party to
the convention.
The valid contractual basis is the so-called
Kyoto Protocol of 1997. One of the items
that the states party to this Protocol agreed
in the Japanese city of Kyoto was to reduce
the emissions of six of the most important
greenhouse gases by 2012. Intensive
discussions have been held on a follow-up
agreement and further commitment periods in
the context of the ongoing climate negotiations, recently at COP 17

in Durban end 2011.
The agreement reached there that the community of states
negotiate a new agreement by 2015 that would then enter force
by 2020 at the latest is expected to lead the way forward. The
next stage on this route is the Climate Summit in Qatar from 26th
November to 7th December 2012 (COP 18), which will be a yardstick
for the seriousness of the further negotiation process. However, the
schedule, extent and distribution of greenhouse gas reductions,
especially between the emerging economies and the industrialized
countries, continue to be controversial. These items are to be
settled in Qatar.
The goal of the negotiation has to be to lower global warming to
below two degrees Celsius (compared to the level before the beginning of industrialization). For this is the only way in which negative impacts of climate change can be checked according to the
present level of knowledge. However, the current developments in
global emissions, forest degradation and consumption and production patterns in industry and agriculture suggest that there will be
cause to fear a rise in temperature of four to six degrees Celsius by
the end of the century.
It was also decided to compile a Review in Durban with the aid of
which the currently agreed climate protection goals and the implementation strategies of the respective countries are to be assessed
by 2015, particularly from the angle of whether they are appropriate to state-of-the-art insights in climatology.
Essential scientific foundations for these consultations will be provided by the Fifth Assessment Report of the International Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), scheduled to be published as three Report
sections in 2013 and 2014. The crucial question here is whether the
Assessment Report will give new impetus to scientific impulses for
the negotiations.
targets for disaster preparedness and coping

with disasters. For example, such targets could
relate to the setting up of national early warning systems and the conducting of risk assessments, financing disaster preparedness and
disaster relief and the systematic introduction
of disaster-proof building regulations. Whereas
the framework for global sustainability goals
ought apply universally, the specific sub-targets
should be adapted to the local conditions and
defined by the population living there.
The follow-up process after the Rio+20 Summit, the international climate negotiations and
the increasingly intensive debates on the future
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
and the Post-2015 Development Agenda offer
an opportunity to also systematically consider
the topic of disaster risks in these contexts.
In the following three years, it will be crucial
to demonstrate the will professed again and
again to overcome a sector-related silo mentality and systematically interlink the various
negotiation and discussion processes. The aim
has to be to really turn disaster risk reduction
into an integral element of the new Development Agenda.
WorldRiskIndex, countries in alphabetical order
Country
WRI
Rank
Country
WRI
Rank
Country
WRI
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzeg.
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Rep.
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Cte dIvoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican
Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
9.79 %
9.96 %
8.15 %
6.56 %
3.80 %
7.04 %
4.57 %
3.75 %
6.10 %
4.17 %
1.81 %
20.22 %
1.15 %
3.32 %
3.48 %
6.63 %
11.42 %
8.17 %
5.13 %
6.63 %
5.21 %
4.30 %
15.92 %
4.56 %
9.74 %
9.15 %
10.49 %
17.17 %
11.50 %
3.18 %
10.88 %
6.64 %
11.13 %
12.26 %
7.05 %
6.89 %
7.45 %
7.38 %
17.38 %
9.00 %
4.35 %
6.55 %
2.81 %
3.67 %
3.09 %
9.96 %
40.
38.
56.
88.
133.
79.
117.
135.
98.
125.
166.
5.
171.
145.
142.
86.
27.
55.
110.
86.
109.
124.
11.
118.
41.
42.
36.
8.
26.
150.
32.
85.
28.
19.
78.
81.
68.
71.
7.
44.
123.
89.
152.
138.
151.
37.
11.63 %
25.
7.94 %
2.33 %
16.89 %
4.47 %
58.
161.
10.
121.
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea, Republic of
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao P. D. Rep.
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libyan Arab Jam.
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mauritania
Mauritius
6.44 %
2.50 %
7.81 %
13.69 %
2.24 %
2.78 %
6.20 %
11.84 %
6.75 %
3.27 %
8.85 %
7.35 %
1.46 %
20.75 %
8.55 %
13.34 %
11.77 %
11.96 %
11.02 %
5.87 %
1.53 %
7.28 %
10.74 %
4.98 %
4.95 %
4.50 %
2.43 %
4.82 %
12.15 %
13.53 %
4.90 %
3.87 %
6.96 %
1.78 %
4.89 %
3.71 %
8.50 %
5.73 %
3.51 %
5.10 %
7.22 %
7.86 %
3.80 %
3.23 %
2.65 %
10.96 %
8.18 %
6.53 %
8.76 %
0.61 %
8.43 %
15.39 %
92.
159.
62.
15.
163.
153.
96.
23.
84.
146.
45.
72.
169.
4.
49.
17.
24.
21.
30.
102.
168.
73.
33.
112.
113.
120.
160.
116.
20.
16.
114.
128.
80.
167.
115.
136.
50.
103.
141.
111.
75.
60.
133.
148.
155.
31.
54.
91.
46.
172.
52.
13.
Mexico
6.39 %
Mongolia
3.24 %
Morocco
7.21 %
Mozambique
9.09 %
Namibia
5.72 %
Nepal
5.69 %
Netherlands
8.49 %
New Zealand
4.44 %
Nicaragua
15.36 %
Niger
11.93 %
Nigeria
8.28 %
Norway
2.31 %
Oman
2.72 %
Pakistan
7.25 %
Panama
7.69 %
Papua New Guinea 15.81 %
Paraguay
3.84 %
Peru
7.18 %
Philippines
27.98 %
Poland
3.53 %
Portugal
3.82 %
Qatar
0.10 %
Rep. of Moldova
5.23 %
Romania
6.78 %
Russia
3.83 %
Rwanda
7.60 %
Samoa
4.51 %
S. Tome a. Principe 3.40 %
Saudi Arabia
1.31 %
Senegal
11.08 %
Serbia
7.67 %
Seychelles
2.60 %
Sierra Leone
10.58 %
Singapore
2.54 %
Slovakia
3.69 %
Slovenia
3.81 %
Solomon Islands
18.15 %
South Africa
5.90 %
Spain
3.40 %
Sri Lanka
7.79 %
Sudan
7.88 %
Suriname
8.62 %
Swaziland
7.84 %
Sweden
2.15 %
Switzerland
2.59 %
Syrian Arab
5.68 %
Republic
Tajikistan
7.40 %
Thailand
6.44 %
Rep. of Macedonia
6.25 %
Timor-Leste
17.13 %
Togo
10.64 %
Rank
Country
WRI
Rank
94.
147.
76.
43.
104.
105.
51.
122.
14.
22.
53.
162.
154.
74.
64.
12.
129.
77.
3.
140.
131.
173.
108.
82.
130.
67.
119.
143.
170.
29.
66.
156.
35.
158.
137.
132.
6.
100.
143.
63.
59.
48.
61.
164.
157.
Tonga
Trinidad a. Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
Uni. Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
U. Rep. o. Tanzania
United States o. A.
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
28.62 %
7.68 %
5.90 %
5.68 %
6.55 %
6.75 %
3.19 %
2.07 %
3.65 %
8.11 %
3.99 %
4.12 %
8.71 %
36.31 %
6.13 %
12.88 %
5.98 %
7.44 %
9.87 %
2.
65.
100.
106.
89.
83.
149.
165.
139.
57.
127.
126.
47.
1.
97.
18.
99.
69.
39.
106.
70.
92.
95.
9.
34.
Countries not listed in the

WorldRiskIndex
Andorra
Antigua and Barbuda
Dem. Peoples Republic of Korea
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dominica
Federated States of Micronesia
Liechtenstein
Maldives
Marshall Islands
Monaco
Montenegro
Nauru
Palau
San Marino
Somalia
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Tuvalu
WorldRiskIndex overview
Rank
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
Country
Vanuatu
Tonga
Philippines
Guatemala
Bangladesh
Solomon Islands
Costa Rica
Cambodia
Timor-Leste
El Salvador
Brunei Darussalam
Papua New Guinea
Mauritius
Nicaragua
Fiji
Japan
Guinea-Bissau
Viet Nam
Chile
Jamaica
Haiti
Niger
Gambia
Guyana
Dominican Republic
Cameroon
Benin
Chad
Senegal
Honduras
Madagascar
Cape Verde
Indonesia
Togo
Sierra Leone
Burundi
Djibouti
Albania
Zimbabwe
Afghanistan
Burkina Faso
Burma
Mozambique
Cte dIvoire
Ghana
Mali
Uzbekistan
Suriname
Guinea
Kyrgyzstan
Netherlands
Mauritania
Nigeria
Malawi
Bhutan
Algeria
United Republic of Tanzania
Ecuador
WorldRiskIndex
Exposure
Vulnerability
Susceptibility
Lack of coping
capacities
Lack of adaptive
capacities
36.31 %
28.62 %
27.98 %
20.75 %
20.22 %
18.15 %
17.38 %
17.17 %
17.13 %
16.89 %
15.92 %
15.81 %
15.39 %
15.36 %
13.69 %
13.53 %
13.34 %
12.88 %
12.26 %
12.15 %
11.96 %
11.93 %
11.84 %
11.77 %
11.63 %
11.50 %
11.42 %
11.13 %
11.08 %
11.02 %
10.96 %
10.88 %
10.74 %
10.64 %
10.58 %
10.49 %
9.96 %
9.96 %
9.87 %
9.79 %
9.74 %
9.15 %
9.09 %
9.00 %
8.85 %
8.76 %
8.71 %
8.62 %
8.55 %
8.50 %
8.49 %
8.43 %
8.28 %
8.18 %
8.17 %
8.15 %
8.11 %
7.94 %
63.66 %
55.27 %
52.46 %
36.30 %
31.70 %
29.98 %
42.61 %
27.65 %
25.73 %
32.60 %
41.10 %
24.94 %
37.35 %
27.23 %
27.71 %
45.91 %
19.65 %
25.35 %
30.95 %
25.82 %
16.26 %
15.87 %
19.29 %
22.90 %
23.14 %
18.19 %
17.06 %
14.89 %
17.57 %
20.01 %
16.03 %
20.26 %
19.36 %
15.56 %
14.65 %
15.13 %
16.34 %
21.25 %
14.96 %
13.17 %
14.32 %
14.87 %
12.73 %
13.67 %
14.48 %
12.55 %
16.18 %
18.12 %
12.03 %
16.63 %
30.57 %
12.47 %
12.06 %
12.34 %
14.81 %
15.82 %
12.01 %
16.15 %
57.04 %
51.78 %
53.35 %
57.16 %
63.78 %
60.55 %
40.80 %
62.07 %
66.59 %
51.82 %
38.72 %
63.38 %
41.21 %
56.43 %
49.40 %
29.46 %
67.88 %
50.83 %
39.60 %
47.06 %
73.54 %
75.17 %
61.41 %
51.40 %
50.23 %
63.23 %
66.93 %
74.74 %
63.07 %
55.09 %
68.37 %
53.72 %
55.48 %
68.39 %
72.20 %
69.32 %
60.98 %
46.89 %
65.97 %
74.32 %
68.00 %
61.57 %
71.37 %
65.84 %
61.12 %
69.76 %
53.84 %
47.60 %
71.05 %
51.10 %
27.76 %
67.55 %
68.70 %
66.25 %
55.14 %
51.48 %
67.52 %
49.19 %
34.17 %
27.91 %
33.92 %
37.28 %
43.47 %
43.96 %
21.59 %
45.93 %
52.88 %
28.92 %
14.57 %
49.03 %
18.99 %
38.41 %
26.19 %
16.52 %
55.49 %
29.20 %
20.95 %
26.49 %
62.70 %
64.87 %
44.40 %
29.25 %
30.00 %
45.57 %
53.91 %
64.69 %
46.97 %
36.19 %
64.39 %
36.13 %
35.45 %
56.15 %
62.48 %
61.99 %
40.34 %
20.73 %
58.45 %
56.63 %
54.81 %
36.70 %
67.63 %
47.34 %
47.12 %
56.57 %
32.33 %
30.01 %
58.08 %
27.54 %
13.89 %
49.04 %
55.46 %
56.28 %
35.06 %
22.50 %
67.34 %
26.80 %
81.19 %
81.31 %
83.09 %
81.18 %
86.84 %
84.26 %
65.63 %
86.68 %
87.58 %
76.71 %
65.66 %
84.85 %
62.04 %
82.68 %
75.32 %
36.31 %
88.48 %
76.73 %
57.84 %
72.49 %
90.43 %
88.73 %
82.19 %
79.79 %
75.74 %
85.10 %
83.88 %
91.80 %
82.47 %
81.68 %
83.07 %
70.64 %
82.16 %
86.52 %
87.48 %
89.53 %
82.94 %
74.67 %
87.74 %
92.07 %
84.86 %
89.82 %
84.91 %
88.55 %
79.06 %
82.87 %
77.85 %
73.27 %
90.16 %
77.79 %
39.14 %
86.54 %
88.00 %
85.31 %
77.31 %
78.46 %
83.49 %
76.93 %
55.78 %
46.11 %
43.03 %
53.04 %
61.03 %
53.42 %
35.19 %
53.61 %
59.32 %
49.82 %
35.94 %
56.27 %
42.60 %
48.21 %
46.67 %
35.56 %
59.68 %
46.56 %
40.01 %
42.21 %
67.48 %
71.93 %
57.63 %
45.16 %
44.96 %
59.01 %
63.00 %
67.74 %
59.76 %
47.40 %
57.66 %
54.39 %
48.83 %
62.51 %
66.64 %
56.44 %
59.66 %
45.26 %
51.73 %
74.26 %
64.32 %
58.18 %
61.58 %
61.64 %
57.16 %
69.85 %
51.35 %
39.53 %
64.91 %
47.98 %
30.26 %
67.07 %
62.63 %
57.15 %
53.05 %
53.48 %
51.73 %
43.85 %
Rank
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
92.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
100.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
106.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
Country
Sudan
Liberia
Swaziland
Ethiopia
Sri Lanka
Panama
Trinidad and Tobago
Serbia
Rwanda
Comoros
Zambia
Tajikistan
Congo
Greece
India
Pakistan
Lesotho
Morocco
Peru
China
Armenia
Kenya
Colombia
Romania
Uganda
Georgia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Belize
Angola
Cuba
Turkmenistan
Malaysia
Thailand
Eritrea
Mexico
The former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia
Gabon
Venezuela
Azerbaijan
Yemen
Tunisia
South Africa
Hungary
Lao People's Dem. Republic
Namibia
Nepal
Syrian Arab Republic
Turkey
Republic of Moldova
Botswana
Bolivia
Lebanon
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Iraq
Jordan
Korea, Republic of
WorldRiskIndex
Exposure
Vulnerability
Susceptibility
Lack of coping
capacities
Lack of adaptive
capacities
7.88 %
7.86 %
7.84 %
7.81 %
7.79 %
7.69 %
7.68 %
7.67 %
7.60 %
7.45 %
7.44 %
7.40 %
7.38 %
7.35 %
7.28 %
7.25 %
7.22 %
7.21 %
7.18 %
7.05 %
7.04 %
6.96 %
6.89 %
6.78 %
6.75 %
6.75 %
6.64 %
6.63 %
6.63 %
6.56 %
6.55 %
6.55 %
6.53 %
6.44 %
6.44 %
6.39 %
11.86 %
10.96 %
12.76 %
11.12 %
14.79 %
16.45 %
17.54 %
18.05 %
11.98 %
10.97 %
11.37 %
12.98 %
11.65 %
21.11 %
11.94 %
11.36 %
11.40 %
13.25 %
14.40 %
14.43 %
14.51 %
10.69 %
13.84 %
15.77 %
10.16 %
14.69 %
9.39 %
14.02 %
13.31 %
10.18 %
17.45 %
13.19 %
14.60 %
13.70 %
8.55 %
13.84 %
66.45 %
71.74 %
61.41 %
70.21 %
52.67 %
46.74 %
43.77 %
42.52 %
63.43 %
67.91 %
65.46 %
56.99 %
63.37 %
34.83 %
60.95 %
63.86 %
63.33 %
54.45 %
49.84 %
48.83 %
48.49 %
65.09 %
49.80 %
42.99 %
66.43 %
45.94 %
70.69 %
47.31 %
49.81 %
64.45 %
37.54 %
49.65 %
44.74 %
47.03 %
75.35 %
46.15 %
52.44 %
65.11 %
47.48 %
58.93 %
28.28 %
29.46 %
18.87 %
18.77 %
58.47 %
56.70 %
61.81 %
37.25 %
52.14 %
16.55 %
40.88 %
38.84 %
50.87 %
29.07 %
30.81 %
28.58 %
24.02 %
52.90 %
29.73 %
22.06 %
56.61 %
24.17 %
61.52 %
19.47 %
28.16 %
56.15 %
19.20 %
24.02 %
20.87 %
21.96 %
66.62 %
23.75 %
91.70 %
85.88 %
82.07 %
88.34 %
80.45 %
68.89 %
70.58 %
68.33 %
80.26 %
83.73 %
81.26 %
76.31 %
86.41 %
52.27 %
81.78 %
87.39 %
81.83 %
76.42 %
74.93 %
71.53 %
70.95 %
86.56 %
76.89 %
63.95 %
88.11 %
65.46 %
89.44 %
73.88 %
74.31 %
85.28 %
58.95 %
76.23 %
70.30 %
76.42 %
86.76 %
71.59 %
55.22 %
64.22 %
54.69 %
63.37 %
49.29 %
41.86 %
41.88 %
40.46 %
51.54 %
63.30 %
53.31 %
57.42 %
51.54 %
35.67 %
60.18 %
65.35 %
57.30 %
57.86 %
43.77 %
46.39 %
50.51 %
55.80 %
42.76 %
42.95 %
54.59 %
48.18 %
61.12 %
48.58 %
46.94 %
51.91 %
34.48 %
48.71 %
43.04 %
42.72 %
72.68 %
43.12 %
6.25 %
14.38 %
43.47 %
20.66 %
66.13 %
43.63 %
6.20 %
6.13 %
6.10 %
5.98 %
5.90 %
5.90 %
5.87 %
5.73 %
5.72 %
5.69 %
5.68 %
5.68 %
5.23 %
5.21 %
5.13 %
5.10 %
4.98 %
4.95 %
4.90 %
4.89 %
11.95 %
13.15 %
13.16 %
9.04 %
12.45 %
12.08 %
15.61 %
9.55 %
10.41 %
9.16 %
10.56 %
12.25 %
11.11 %
10.55 %
8.98 %
11.14 %
10.19 %
8.08 %
10.53 %
14.89 %
51.90 %
46.62 %
46.34 %
66.13 %
47.38 %
48.83 %
37.61 %
60.03 %
54.96 %
62.19 %
53.81 %
46.35 %
47.06 %
49.40 %
57.13 %
45.75 %
48.85 %
61.20 %
46.50 %
32.84 %
33.01 %
23.44 %
22.86 %
47.89 %
22.52 %
31.36 %
16.18 %
43.34 %
46.26 %
48.06 %
27.35 %
19.80 %
23.53 %
31.97 %
43.63 %
20.40 %
18.36 %
37.49 %
24.38 %
14.37 %
81.54 %
74.59 %
67.61 %
88.92 %
72.15 %
69.85 %
55.28 %
85.60 %
72.11 %
82.74 %
80.19 %
69.87 %
70.83 %
68.77 %
80.34 %
70.20 %
79.75 %
88.83 %
68.85 %
45.61 %
41.14 %
41.84 %
48.54 %
61.58 %
47.46 %
45.26 %
41.38 %
51.14 %
46.51 %
55.76 %
53.88 %
49.40 %
46.83 %
47.46 %
47.43 %
46.64 %
48.43 %
57.27 %
46.28 %
38.54 %
Rank
Country
116.
117.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
133.
135.
136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
143.
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.
165.
166.
167.
168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
Italy
Australia
Bulgaria
Samoa
Ireland
Equatorial Guinea
New Zealand
Croatia
Brazil
Bahamas
Uruguay
United States
Kazakhstan
Paraguay
Russia
Portugal
Slovenia
Argentina
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Austria
Kuwait
Slovakia
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
Poland
Latvia
Belgium
Spain
Sao Tome and Principe
Belarus
Germany
Mongolia
Lithuania
Ukraine
Canada
Denmark
Cyprus
France
Oman
Luxembourg
Seychelles
Switzerland
Singapore
Estonia
Israel
Egypt
Norway
Finland
Sweden
United Arab Emirates
Bahrain
Kiribati
Iceland
Grenada
Saudi Arabia
Barbados
Malta
Qatar
WorldRiskIndex
Exposure
Vulnerability
Susceptibility
Lack of coping
capacities
Lack of adaptive
capacities
4.82 %
4.57 %
4.56 %
4.51 %
4.50 %
4.47 %
4.44 %
4.35 %
4.30 %
4.17 %
4.12 %
3.99 %
3.87 %
3.84 %
3.83 %
3.82 %
3.81 %
3.80 %
3.80 %
3.75 %
3.71 %
3.69 %
3.67 %
3.65 %
3.53 %
3.51 %
3.48 %
3.40 %
3.40 %
3.32 %
3.27 %
3.24 %
3.23 %
3.19 %
3.18 %
3.09 %
2.81 %
2.78 %
2.72 %
2.65 %
2.60 %
2.59 %
2.54 %
2.50 %
2.43 %
2.33 %
2.31 %
2.24 %
2.15 %
2.07 %
1.81 %
1.78 %
1.53 %
1.46 %
1.31 %
1.15 %
0.61 %
0.10 %
13.85 %
15.05 %
11.66 %
9.10 %
14.74 %
8.22 %
15.44 %
11.53 %
9.53 %
10.71 %
11.10 %
12.25 %
9.11 %
7.03 %
9.38 %
10.93 %
11.59 %
9.55 %
7.80 %
13.60 %
9.04 %
10.21 %
10.82 %
11.60 %
9.79 %
9.26 %
11.66 %
10.23 %
5.81 %
8.46 %
11.41 %
6.52 %
8.88 %
7.50 %
10.25 %
10.87 %
7.44 %
9.25 %
6.41 %
9.12 %
5.99 %
9.56 %
7.82 %
7.23 %
6.41 %
4.72 %
8.58 %
8.19 %
7.97 %
5.93 %
4.27 %
3.05 %
5.67 %
3.13 %
2.93 %
3.46 %
1.65 %
0.28 %
34.78 %
30.38 %
39.11 %
49.58 %
30.54 %
54.37 %
28.77 %
37.73 %
45.18 %
38.99 %
37.06 %
32.57 %
42.47 %
54.56 %
40.84 %
34.99 %
32.86 %
39.82 %
48.70 %
27.54 %
41.03 %
36.13 %
33.96 %
31.49 %
36.05 %
37.94 %
29.88 %
33.28 %
58.55 %
39.31 %
28.68 %
49.66 %
36.40 %
42.56 %
31.04 %
28.42 %
37.72 %
30.05 %
42.48 %
29.11 %
43.46 %
27.14 %
32.47 %
34.62 %
37.88 %
49.38 %
26.87 %
27.41 %
27.01 %
34.84 %
42.44 %
58.32 %
26.98 %
46.64 %
44.53 %
33.08 %
36.81 %
36.18 %
16.05 %
14.39 %
16.90 %
27.91 %
14.98 %
26.40 %
16.13 %
17.16 %
25.31 %
17.27 %
20.69 %
16.67 %
18.53 %
32.92 %
21.25 %
17.15 %
14.23 %
22.06 %
24.27 %
13.63 %
13.27 %
13.82 %
14.33 %
15.53 %
17.23 %
20.98 %
14.91 %
15.07 %
46.17 %
16.85 %
14.63 %
34.42 %
20.39 %
19.30 %
14.29 %
14.30 %
14.00 %
15.39 %
17.60 %
11.59 %
20.88 %
13.99 %
14.11 %
17.83 %
18.49 %
22.00 %
13.75 %
14.62 %
14.32 %
10.54 %
13.55 %
42.22 %
14.34 %
25.32 %
17.93 %
15.36 %
14.29 %
9.61 %
54.84 %
41.87 %
59.31 %
73.83 %
42.26 %
85.65 %
39.79 %
59.65 %
68.39 %
57.10 %
51.31 %
48.48 %
62.22 %
79.63 %
59.70 %
48.80 %
51.36 %
61.56 %
72.45 %
35.75 %
65.98 %
56.98 %
51.85 %
46.40 %
55.45 %
58.05 %
42.89 %
50.87 %
77.52 %
60.56 %
38.59 %
68.56 %
53.17 %
63.44 %
45.06 %
39.09 %
57.99 %
42.25 %
63.19 %
40.51 %
63.92 %
36.93 %
47.10 %
52.12 %
56.82 %
76.55 %
37.98 %
37.81 %
36.85 %
56.36 %
64.19 %
82.43 %
39.16 %
69.89 %
70.89 %
48.53 %
53.52 %
55.40 %
33.44 %
34.88 %
41.11 %
47.00 %
34.38 %
51.06 %
30.39 %
36.39 %
41.83 %
42.59 %
39.19 %
32.55 %
46.66 %
51.14 %
41.58 %
39.01 %
33.00 %
35.84 %
49.38 %
33.25 %
43.84 %
37.58 %
35.71 %
32.53 %
35.48 %
34.81 %
31.84 %
33.91 %
51.96 %
40.50 %
32.82 %
46.02 %
35.64 %
44.95 %
33.77 %
31.89 %
41.17 %
32.50 %
46.65 %
35.22 %
45.57 %
30.51 %
36.19 %
33.90 %
38.33 %
49.57 %
28.87 %
29.79 %
29.86 %
37.61 %
49.57 %
50.31 %
27.45 %
44.70 %
44.78 %
35.36 %
42.62 %
43.54 %
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of Mangroves. Earthscan, LondonUNISDR (2011) Global assessment report on disaster risk reduction revealing risk,
redefining development (UN, NY).
Publisher:
Bndnis Entwicklung Hilft (Alliance Development Works),
In charge of publishing: Peter Mucke
Concept and implementation:
Peter Mucke, Bndnis Entwicklung Hilft, Project leader
Dr. Katrin Radtke, Welthungerhilfe
Lars Jeschonnek, MediaCompany
Scientific advisor for the WorldRiskIndex:
PD Dr. Jrn Birkmann, United Nations University,
Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
Authors:
Dr. Michael W. Beck and
Dr. Christine C. Shepard, The Nature Conservancy
PD Dr. Jrn Birkmann, Prof. Dr. Jakob Rhyner, Dr. Torsten Welle,
Maximilian Witting and Jan Wolfertz, all UNU-EHS
Jens Martens, Global Policy Forum Europe
Katja Maurer, medico international
Peter Mucke, Bndnis Entwicklung Hilft
Dr. Katrin Radtke, Welthungerhilfe
In collaboration with:
Annika Sophie Duhn, Misereor
Ulrike Felsenstein, Brot fr die Welt
Petra Lw, Munich Re, NatCatSERVICE
Wolf-Christian Ramm, terre des hommes
Dr. Mark Spalding, The Nature Conservancy
Editors:
Dr. Nina Brodbeck, Bndnis Entwicklung Hilft
Editor-in-charge: Lars Jeschonnek, MediaCompany
Graphic design and information graphics:
Naldo Gruden, MediaCompany
Translation:
Mike Gardner
Cooperation partners:
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and
Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn
The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, supported by the
Pew Marine Fellowship Program
ISBN 978-3-9814495-0-3
With the kind assistance of
Stiftung Umwelt und Entwicklung
Nordrhein-Westfalen
Photo credits:
Map on pages 38/39: Data on coral reefs: World Resources Institute (2011):
Reefs at Risk Revisited; on the mangroves: Spalding, M., Kainuma, M.
and Collins, L. (2010): World Atlas of Mangroves. ISME. And: Global Digital
Elevation Model (ETOPO2): National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC); on
population density: Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project (GRUMP): Urban
Extents Data Collection. Alpha Version. Center for International Earth Science
Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, detailed information at:
www.network.coastalresilience.org
Map on pages 40/41: World Resources Institute (2011); Data on coral reefs:
Reefs at Risk Revisited; on population density: Global Rural-Urban Mapping
Project (GRUMP): Urban Extents Data Collection. Alpha Version. Center
for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia
University, detailed information at www.network.coastalresilience.org; on
the WorldRiskIndex: source: UNU-EHS, based on PREVIEW Global Risk Data
Platform, CreSIS, CIESIN and global data banks, detailed information at:
www.WorldRiskReport.org
Cover page: View of Sundarbans landscape (Bangladesh): the Ganges River
Delta threatened by flooding. Photo: Boethling/Welthungerhilfe
Page 4: Construction of a rock catchments in Kajiado (Kenya). Photo: Iris
Krebber/Welthungerhilfe
Page 10: Flooding in Nicaragua. Photo: Zanetti/Welthungerhilfe
Page 26: Fishing boats rusting away in the area of the dried up Aral Sea.
(Kazakhstan). Photo: Asia Khamzina
Page 33: Divers setting up coral bank. Foto: Tim Calver/TNC
Page 36: Coral reef. Photo: Jeff Yonover/TNC
Page 56: Fukushima nuclear power station one year after it was destroyed
by the earthquake and the Tsunami. Photo: AIR PHOTO SERVICE/picture
alliance
Printing:
knitzers druck + medien, Berlin
Online:
The detailed scientific description as well as further information and tables
can be consulted and downloaded from www.WorldRiskReport.org
Printed on fsc
certified paper.
Publisher:
Bndnis Entwicklung Hilft

Alliance Development Works
Chausseestrae 128/129
10115 Berlin
Phone +49 30 278 77 390
Fax
+49 30 278 77 399
[email protected]
www.entwicklung-hilft.de
ISBN 978-3-9814495-0-3
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Focus: Environmental degradation and disasters

Together for people in need.

1. Disaster risk, environmental degradation and global sustainability policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2. WorldRiskIndex 2012: Concept, updating and results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.1 Concept and structure of the WorldRiskIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3. Focus: Environmental degradation and disasters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.2 Coastal Habitats and Risk Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.3 Agrofuels, land-grabbing and landslides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

3.4 Environmental degradation, poverty and disaster risk

4. Disaster risk reduction a key element of global sustainability policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

1. Disaster risk, environmental

uman intervention in the global ecosystem

a natural event turns into a disaster depends

So far, people have rarely been the direct

The WorldRiskIndex seeks answers to the

Additionally, there is an increasing danger

+ How probable is an extreme natural event,

Natural hazard sphere

Vulnerability Societal sphere

Capacities for long-term

medical services and social and material

The preponderance of technical or economic

The printed version of the

In the case of both the local

the opportunity to comprehensively consider

Whether natural hazards will turn into disasters depends

Share of the population without

Number of people in a country who are

Dependency ratio (share of under

Number of people in this country who are

(each weighted half owing to the uncertainty of the data base)

Extreme poverty population

Economic capacity and

Number of total population in country

Gross domestic product per

2.1 Concept and structure of the WorldRiskIndex

he WorldRiskIndex is a tool to assess the

well as political decision-makers towards the

Government and authorities

Education and research

Corruption Perceptions Index

Disaster preparedness and early

National disaster risk

Gender parity in education

Number of physicians per

Neighbors, family and

Adult literacy rate

Insurances (life insurances excluded)

Public health expenditure

conditions, which in turn may be affected

hazard can turn into a disaster. One advantage

The concept of the Index stresses that not

Exposure to natural hazards

The modular structure may be applied not

Risk is understood as interaction between a

Calculating exposure to a rise in sea level by

appeared in Germany alone. But not only did

2.2 Updating and modifying the indicators

s shown above, the WorldRiskIndex