Mitigation of natural hazards and disasters : international perspectives

For these and other reasons the ?ndings reported in this volume will be of large signi?cance as future policy decisions are made in a wide variety of natural and social environments. GILBERT F. WHITE Professor Emeritus Geography and Institute of Behavioral Science University of Colorado, Colorado, USA [2] C Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (2005) 10: 335-353 Springer 2005 ADAPTATION OPTIONS STRATEGIES FOR HAZARDS AND VULNERABILITY MITIGATION: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 1,? 2 C. EMDAD HAQUE and IAN BURTON 1 Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 2 Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada ? ( Author for correspondense: Tel: 204-474-8375; Fax: 204-261-0038; E-mail: haquece@ms. umanitoba. ca) (Received 15 May 2004; accepted in ?nal form 17 July 2004) Abstract. The broad objective of this special issue of Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change is to address some of the gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the policies, programs, and measures that might be applied to natural hazards and their impacts in an era of climate change. Given the global impacts of climate change and world-wide pattern of increasing losses from natural hazards we necessarily adopt an international perspective. The speci?c goals of the special issue are to: (a) encompass experiential aspects, emphasizing current practice of mitigation and its associated measures, and their results; and (b) explore primary or root causes of alarming shifts in human and economic costs of environmental extremes.