ABSTRACT
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) became a subject of strong, intense, and contentious international political negotiations for perhaps the first time in its history during the Third World Conference on DRR organised by the United Nations (UN) in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015. This chapter examines the roles played by three DRR and climate change adaptation (CCA) international institutions: UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), UN Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), and Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). It examines advantages and limitations of their separation and differing mandates. The institutional proliferation under the aegis of UNFCCC contributes to a broader adaptation network in which coordination, transparency and effectiveness capacity come into question. It also raises questions about institutional inertia. Built on the mitigation–adaptation dichotomy and on successive geopolitical compromises, this complexity makes it all the more difficult to bridge the gap between UNFCCC and UNISDR.
