Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Europe: a review of risk governance

This study aims to analyse climate related disasters risk reduction governance in the European context. There is a particular focus on the flow of information from researchers to policy makers and the way in which the decision-making process in climate adaptation and risk reduction is commonly managed. The study confines itself to Europe and looks into practical cases of European regional and national adaptation strategies. It also investigates specific projects and initiatives addressing Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

The paper is divided into three sections:

1. An overview of the climate-risks and disaster risk reduction field(s).
2. An analysis of the current governance structure (studying the flow of information and decisionmaking processes).
3. Recommendations for the enhancement of these practices in regional and international organisations.

This study was conducted using a desk review and analysis of secondary resources, national and regional policy paper documents dealing with CCA, DRR and environmental management, and greatly benefited from the information shared through interviews with key informants such as academic experts in the area of CCA and DRR, officers working in relevant international and regional organisations and national decision makers involved in policies on CCA and DRR at country level.