ABSTRACT
Understanding natural hazards is, alongside understanding the capacities and vulnerabilities, a critical foundation for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA). There can be little progress in reducing risk and adapting to hazards without fully understanding where, when and how a hazard may impact an area. The chapter explores the natural processes that 'drive' climate and weather hazards: the long-term behaviour of the earth's atmosphere and the short-term atmospheric variations respectively. It introduces large-scale processes currently triggering and fuelling the hazards we face. The chapter also explores the complexities of these hazards and highlights the challenges for DRR including CCA. Climate monitoring and the communication of warnings are important components for DRR including CCA. Ultimately, striving to understand large-scale processes in combination with projected climate change impacts, as well as our individual through to global vulnerabilities, improves our ability to implement DRR including CCA in the short and long term.
