News

Safer lives and livelihoods in mountains

24.05.2017

Approximately 915 million people live in mountain regions worldwide, and many of those mountain peoples are vulnerable and exposed to multiple natural hazards. Safe living space in mountains is limited and often close to hazard zones. Meanwhile, the frequency and magnitude of disasters is increasing, with contributing factors including population growth, urbanization, economic development, ecosystem degradation and climate change. There is growing competition for safe land, often to the detriment of economically weaker people, who are pushed to the fringes of safe zones. Moreover, hazards occurring in mountains not only threaten the lives and livelihoods of people in remote rural settlements and in growing urban centres in mountains, but they also affect people in the lowlands.

The newest book in the sustainable mountain development series aims to create awareness about the specific challenges mountain communities face in preventing, coping with and recovering from disaster risks, and to inform policy- and decision-makers how they can contribute to making the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction instrumental for sustainable mountain development.

Safer lives and livelihoods in mountains: making the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction work for sustainable mountain development was distributed at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Cancun, Mexico on 22-26 May 2017. The 70-page publication presents 15 case studies from mountain regions around the world, illustrating the efforts and experiences of public and private actors to implement the Sendai Framework’s four priorities for action. Furthermore, the publication contains messages for policy-makers, emphasizing the need for mountain-specific disaster risk reduction policies that are integrated with development activities and climate change adaptation measures, to make lives and livelihoods in mountains and beyond safer.

Published by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) with the support of the Austrian Development Cooperation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the book is available online in English and Spanish.