This is the first biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction prepared in the context of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. It focuses on the nexus between disaster risk and poverty, in a context of global climate change.

The 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction is the first biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction prepared in the context of the International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (ISDR). The focus of this report is the nexus between disaster risk and poverty, in a context of global climate change. Both mortality and economic loss risk are heavily concentrated in developing countries and within these countries they disproportionately affect the poor. Disaster impacts have persistent, longterm negative impacts on poverty and human development that undermine the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This report identifies underlying risk drivers such as vulnerable rural livelihoods, poor urban governance and declining ecosystems that shape the relationship between disaster risk and poverty. It also shows how climate change will magnify the uneven social and territorial distribution of risk, increasing the risks faced by the poor and further amplifying poverty.