Assessing Risk in a Changing Climate

Science, policy and practice all demonstrate that disaster risk management and climate change adaptation are intimately connected. This session will present the scientific consensus and lessons learned from practice to explore the implications of our knowledge about changing climate risks for risk management. How do we avoid managing the risks of the past? How can policy and practice bridge short and longer timescales?

The session will start with a brief presentation of the conclusions of the recent IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risk of Extremes and Disasters to advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX). Signed off by all governments, this report presents the best scientific knowledge on how extremes are changing, but also how changing risks can best be managed.

Those messages are then put in the context of current practice. Alhamndou Dorsouma (African Development Bank) will reflect on the African Development Bank experience in developing safeguards for climate risk management. Sofia Bettencourt (World Bank) will then discuss the role of instruments, institutions and incentives, building on experience in the Pacific as well as in several African countries.

These three brief presentations will be followed by a panel discussion on three key themes, which all link to aspects of the three presentations above: (i) the role of climate information, (ii) national planning, and (iii) local implementation.

The panel discussion will draw experience from the presenters and panelists as well as the audience. Participants will be asked to present concrete recommendations that can be challenged and/or endorsed by others, and will then be recorded as outcomes of the session.

Lead: Ebrima Faal 

Assessing (and Addressing) Risk in a Changing Climate - Maarten van Aalst, Tony Nyong

The IPCC Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation African context - Balgis Osman-Elasha 

Addressing climate risks in project cycle: AfDB’s Climate Safeguards System - Alexis Rwabizambuga 

From Assessing Risk to Decision Making the role of Instruments, Incentives, and Institutions - Sofia Bettencourt