All publications and documents

Globally, disasters due to natural hazards such as storms, flooding, drought, earthquakes and ocean surge extract an enormous toll in terms of human lives, destruction to crops and livelihoods, and economic losses. The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) estimates that between 2000 and 2012, some 1.2 million people died as a result of disasters; 2.9 billion people were…

Understanding the cost of inaction and beneftis of action are important in order for all stakeholders to be able to make sound, informed decisions about the amount and type of investments in land they make. Even though techniques for sustainable land management are known, many barriers remain and the financial and economic aspects are often put forward as primary obstacles. If the full…

The links between climate change, economic development and poverty reduction have gained increasing attention over recent years in both the academic and policy literature. In this paper we review potential effects of climate change on the prospects for long-run economic development. These effects might operate directly, via the role of geography (including climate) as a fundamental determinant of…

This publication provides a sober and revealing analysis of weather-related disaster trends over a twenty year time-frame which coincides with a period which has seen the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties become an established high- profile annual fixture on the development calendar. The contents of this report underline why it is so important that a new climate…

Drought is a growing threat to many people and economies in both developing and developed countries, with characteristics differing considerably across the world. Droughts are considered to be the most farreaching of all natural disasters, causing short and long-term social, economic, and ecological losses and having significant secondary and tertiary impacts. A drought does not…

The World Migration Report 2015: Migrants and Cities, New Partnerships to Manage Mobility ─the eighth report in IOM’s World Migration Report (WMR) series─ focuses on migrants and how migration is shaping cities and the situation of migrants in cities. While much of the current international discussion about migration trends and migration policy tends to focus on the national level, this report…