This issues paper firstly analyzes the vicious spiral between climate change impacts, ecosystem degradation and increased risk of climate-related disasters; secondly, defines the central role of ecosystem management in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and their multifaceted linkages; and thirdly, assesses the challenges for enhanced ecosystem management for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Given the increasing importance of ecosystem management in adapting and responding to climate change
impacts and associated disaster risks, the paper concludes that political commitment at the highest level is urgently needed if ecosystem management is to have the adequate weight it deserves in the post-2012 climate change agreement.