Healthy and well-managed ecosystems offer numerous services to societies, including regulation of natural hazards. These disaster risk reducing services include flood regulation, landslide prevention, control of wild fires, reduction of storm surge impacts and so forth. Conversely, ecosystem decline increases disaster risk both by reducing the ability of an ecosystem to act as a natural buffer, as well as by reducing people's resilience by reducing their bases for livelihoods such as food, medicine and construction materials.

ProAct promotes ecosystem-based disaster disk reduction, and can provide further assistance in its practical application.

Some of the main general publications (excluding scientific articles) on ecosystem-DRR linkages are listed and downloadable below for easy reference (Copyright and ownership remain with original publishers).

Please let us know if you have any additions or corrections to the list at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ProAct Network 2010	Maximising Ecosystem Services for Disaster Risk Reduction. Briefing Note
ProAct Network 2008	The Role of Environmental Management and Eco-engineering in Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Main report Annexes: Cases studies
ProAct Network 2008	Environmental Management: Multiple Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Benefits for Vulnerable Communities
ADPC 2009	Regional Training Manual on Disaster Risk Reduction for Coastal Zone Managers
DEWGA 2009	Linking Disaster Risk Reduction, Environmental Management and Development Practices and Practitioners in Asia Pacific Region: A Review of Opportunities for Integration. Working Paper.
FAO 2007	The Role of Coastal Forests in the Mitigation of Tsunami Impacts. RAP Publication 2007/01.
ISDR 2009	Global Assessment Report for Disaster Risk Reduction: Risk and Poverty in a Changing Climate. Invest Today for a Safer Tomorrow Summary and Recommendations Chapter 4 - The heart of the matter: the underlying risk drivers Chapter 6 - Addressing the underlying risk drivers
ISDR Kyoto University 2010	A Guide for Implementing the Hyogo Framework of Action by Local Stakeholders. Asian Regional Task Force on Urban Risk Reduction.  HFA-4 - Reduce the underlying Risk Factors
ISME ITTO 2009	Manual on Guidelines for Rehabilitation of Coastal Forests Damaged by Natural Hazards in the Asia-Pacific Region
IUCN 2006	Ecosystems, Livelihoods and Disasters: An Integrated Approach to Disaster Risk Management. Ecosystem Management Series No. 4.
IUCN 2008	Incorporating environmental safeguards into disaster risk management. Volume 1: Reference material.
IUCN 2008	Incorporating environmental safeguards into disaster risk management. Volume 2: The Disaster Management Cycle.
IUCN 2009	Incorporating environmental safeguards into disaster risk management. Volume 3: Tools, techniques and relevant resources.
IUCN 2009	Environmental Guidance Note for Disaster Risk Reduction: Healthy Ecosystems for Human Security
IUCN 2009	Environment as Infrastructure: Resilience to Climate Change Impacts on Water through Investments in Nature.
IUCN, TNC UNDP, WCS World Bank WWF 2010	Natural Solutions: Protected areas helping people cope with climate change
ProVention Consortium CDB 2006	Tools for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction: Environmental Assessment. Guidance Note 7
UNEP 2009	The Role of Ecosystem Management in Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction. Issues Paper prepared for the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, June 2009
UNEP 2010	Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology Development Project (RiVAMP): Linking Ecosystems to Risk and Vulnerability Reduction. The Case of Jamaica. Results of the Pilot Assessment
UNEP ISDR 2007	Environment and Disasters: Emerging Perspectives
UNEP WCMC 2006	In the front line: shoreline protection and other ecosystem services from mangroves and coral reefs
World Bank 2002	The Last Straw: Integrating Natural Disaster Mitigation with Environmental Management (with examples from Dominica, the Dominican Republic and St. Lucia). Disaster Risk Management Working Paper Series No. 5.
World Bank 2010	Convenient Solutions to an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosystem-Based Approaches to Climate Change
WWF 2008	Natural Security: Protected areas and hazard mitigation. A research report by WWF and Equilibrium.