ABSTRACT

As argued throughout this volume, climate change adaptation (CCA) is an essential component of a larger set of disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and programmes. While both may be considered loss reduction values in and of themselves, they may also be considered instrumental values to achieving another, and in some ways a higher order value: avoiding or at least reducing violent conflict within or between communities, societies, or nation-states. That is, from this latter perspective DRR, including CCA, constitutes conflict mitigation potentialities, and may even contribute to resolving ongoing conflicts. The obvious challenge, however, is to address the prior question: Is there a relationship between (a) environmental hazard events or processes and their drivers, including climate change, and (b) violent conflict, and (c) if so, how strong are those respective relationships? If there are no such connections, then DRR including CCA as an instrumental value is moot, and it can be valued more simply as a loss reduction measure including for climate change events and disasters.