Disaster Risk Knowledge

The severity of weather and climate events impacts depends primarily on exposure and vulnerability. Vulnerability and exposure vary across temporal and spatial scales and depend on economic, social, geographic, demographic, cultural, institutional, governance, and environmental factors (IPCC, 2012). Risk is the probability and magnitude of harm to human beings, livelihoods, and assets due to their exposure and vulnerability to a hazard. The extent of harm may change due to response actions that reduce exposure during the event or reduce vulnerability to relevant hazard types (World Meteorological Organization, 2015).

The WRNs Program helps countries enhance disaster risk knowledge through the systematic collection of impact data, identification and understanding of key primary, secondary and tertiary hazards and related impacts, improved assessment of vulnerability and exposure, and their influence on the underlying factors of systemic risk. Risk knowledge is essential in expanding warning messages that include possible impacts and designing and implementing appropriate communication strategies, mitigation, preparedness, and response plans.

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Disaster Risk Knowledge / PDF

Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

The Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impacts of climate change, looking at ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities at global and regional levels. It also reviews vulnerabilities and the capacities and limits of the natural world and human societies to adapt to climate change.

Access link: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Download ()

Disaster Risk Knowledge / PDF

IPCC, 2022: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Summary for Policymakers (SPM) presents key findings of the Working Group II (WGII) contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the IPCC. The report builds on the WGII contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the IPCC, three Special Reports, and the Working Group I (WGI) contribution to the AR6 cycle. This report recognizes the interdependence of climate, ecosystems and biodiversity, and human societies and integrates knowledge more strongly across the natural, ecological, social and economic sciences than earlier IPCC assessments. The assessment of climate change impacts and risks as well as adaptation is set against concurrently unfolding non-climatic global trends e.g., biodiversity loss, overall unsustainable consumption of natural resources, land and ecosystem degradation, rapid urbanisation, human demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities and a pandemic. Link: IPCC Summary for Policymakers (SPM). In Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Download ()