Ecosystem-based risk reduction in policy and practice

Ecosystems provide multiple environmental, economic, and social benefits for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Working with nature has proven to be advantageous in many dimensions that international and national policy and actions have started to integrate ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. There are also increasing calls for significant investments in restoring and protecting natural capital utilizing ecosystem-based approaches at the country level. However, challenges remain, and progress is limited in applying ecosystem-based risk reduction in policy and practice in many regions and countries. This chapter reviews the key concepts in ecosystem-based risk reduction, describing synergies and differences, examines how the global agendas prioritize ecosystem-based risk reduction, surveys the research trends in ecosystem-based approaches, and studies how ecosystem-based risk reduction is implemented in practice including the standards and criteria developed. Barriers to further scale-up ecosystem-based risk reduction are identified as well as opportunities to advance ecosystem-based risk reduction. The chapter concludes by highlighting the gaps in research and practice and urging for focused efforts on building evidence and awareness of the benefits of ecosystem-based risk reduction to communities and societies.