The social construction of disaster risk is well established. This seminar brings together three recent experiences to reflect in turn on communication, implementation and measurement. First, communication is explored through a reflection on the interaction between science and policy in the IPCC SREX report, published in March 2012 and the culmination of over 200 scientists working for three years. Second, implementation is discussed through the work of Oxfam UK which allows some insights into the challenges of seeking to generate lasting change and building resilience using community based methodology. This draws on an assessment of the outcomes of urban DRR projects in Guyana, Dominican Republic and Haiti. Third, the measurement challenge is presented through a reflection on two projects that have deployed an indexing tool to quantify adaptive capacity at the regime and organisational levels in London (heatwave and drought) and Guyana (flood). These are distinct experiences and each highlights different challenges for the analysis of adaptation, resilience, transformation and associated terms that before being fully defined and rationalised are already part of the language of disaster risk and climate change adaptation policy and science.

Professor Mark Pelling is Professor of Geography, Kings College London.