Introduction: Can the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement, and Agenda 2030 Provide a Path Towards Societal Resilience?

Abstract

The Global Risk Report 2021 highlights the portfolio of risks that may reshape the world in the coming years (WEF, The Global Risks Report 2021 (16th ed.). ISBN: 978-2-940631-24-7. http://wef.ch/risks2021, 2021). Although the global portfolio of risks is dominated by the existential crisis of climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic presents an immediate experience of how risk can upend and disrupt our societies and economies. It has highlighted existing global inequalities and demonstrated the scope and scale of cascading socio-ecological impacts. The impacts of climate change on global communities will likely dwarf the disruption brought on by the pandemic, with impacts being more diffuse and pervasive over a longer time frame. The chapter sets out the nature of the climate change problem and the potential value in integrating the agendas of Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sustainable Development Goals to increase societal resilience. It then describes the scope of the book under its three sections: Best practice approaches, Irish case studies, International case studies. Lessons learned are then presented from the studies set out within the volume, followed by challenges and potential solutions to realising the ambition of resilience. Finally, a set of overarching conclusions are drawn.