Human Rights for Disaster Risk Reduction Including Climate Change Adaptation

This chapter will discuss the ways in which human rights must be res pected, protected, and fulfilled in the context of adaptation to climate change that is part of disaster risk reduction (DRR). As Kelman and Gaillard (2010) illustrate, embedding climate change adaptation (CCA) within broader discussions about DRR is important because it avoids the pitfalls of falsely separating interrelated issues of sustainability and development. It therefore raises questions about how international development policy can integrate short-and long-term goals at local, national, and international scales. Human rights contributes to this conversation by setting out legal and ethical responsibilities that range from specific and immediate actions by local actors (e.g., non-discriminatory evacuation of a flooded area) to structural and long-term issues addressed by national or international actors (e.g., the impact on certain groups of an eroding coastline).