Improving Coherence between Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction through Formal and Informal International Lawmaking

Abstract

Resolutions and other key documents adopted in the last few years by the international community provide that greater coherence and integration between law and policies on climate change adaptation (cca) and disaster risk reduction (drr) can lead to more efficient use of available resources, and more effective action in reducing human vulnerabilities and exposure to climate and disaster risks. Moving from the analytical background provided by the ‘informal international law’ theory (in-law), the purpose of this study is to evaluate how the combination of formal and informal law-making processes affects the coherent implementation of different normative instruments defining the current global agenda on climate risk governance. Normative developments in three different institutional contexts (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction – ‘Sendai system’; and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement) will be assessed, in light of recent developments on the drafting, endorsement and implementation of relevant normative instruments. The analysis will be corroborated by references to the effects that greater synergies between these frameworks can generate at the regional and domestic levels, as demonstrated by evidence collected in three different countries (Fiji, the Philippines, and Dominica) between 2019 and 2021.