Integrating climate change adaptation and climate-related disaster risk-reduction policy in developing countries: A case study in the Philippines

Developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate-related disasters. These disasters often result in costly catastrophic levels of destruction, which derails a country’s development objectives. Using Birkmann and von Teichman’s [(2010). Integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (CCA): Key challenges – scales, knowledge, and norms. Sustainability Science, 5(2), 171–184. doi:10.1007/s11625-010-0108-y] framing concepts of scale, norms, and knowledge, this article uses the Philippines as a case study to examine the barriers and opportunities of conjoined CCA and disaster management systems in developing countries. The case study demonstrated that current policy instruments were largely unsuccessful, as they focus on post-disaster impacts rather than mitigating the sources of vulnerability which amplify disaster risk. This is a major deterrent in the current integration of schemes due to the failure to incorporate the relevant actors, appropriate strategies, cost-effective financial structures, and suitable institutional arrangements. Without sustained funding, timely information, and community-level support, implementation on the ground will be difficult. Knowing this, there is a need to change the decision-making structure of the proposed integrated system to include three main aspects: (1) addressing underlying factors of vulnerability as a common, integrated policy objective, (2) recognizing a more meaningful inclusion of informal responses, and (3) taking into account future uncertain climate conditions and pending impacts.