UNDP-IIHS joint working paper: poverty and vulnerability reduction, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with a human development focus

This working paper explores whether policies, plans and capacities which address climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and poverty alleviation and vulnerability reduction can be integrated using a human development framework. It captures key linkages between disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation, when viewed from a human development lens, spanning various sectors and levels of governance in India to lay out a framework for policy makers and practitioners to consider.

The working paper presents an analysis of national policies on disaster risk management and climate change in India, with a view to discern whether human development is addressed adequately. A key recommendation of this paper is that a human development framework that integrates DRR and CC adaptation needs to be developed, particularly through the formulation of State and city level plans, and the Twelfth Five Year Plan, to have positive developmental outcomes. The working paper recommends ‘Resilience Planning’ at the state level to achieve resonance with progressive international discourses on poverty and vulnerability reduction, while incorporating the regional and local context that affects the positive outcome of any planning initiative.