Table 8.1.

Differences between disaster risk management and adaptation to climate change governance (Qi and Cai 2010)

	Disaster risk management	Adapting to climate change governance
Target	Disaster prevention and disaster loss probability reduction	Reduce climate risk, enhancing adaptive capacity, and develop the potential development opportunities
Risk types	Risk of natural disasters (such as earthquakes, floods, typhoons, droughts), man-made disaster risks (such as pollution, industrial accidents, fires)	Climate change risks (sudden and extreme weather and climate events such as typhoons, floods, storms, heat, drought, lightning, haze, etc.); gradual long-term risks (such as rising sea levels, desertification, loss of biodiversity)
Risk perception features	Sudden disasters and long-term disasters	Long-term, irreversible, with uncertainty
Risk profile	Danger, hazard, exposure, disaster-formative environment	Extreme events, exposure, vulnerability
Timescale	Responses to incidents (before, during, and after), focus on individual events, static process	Long-lasting changes, continuous dynamic processes, concerns associated with sustainable development
Sphere of influence	Disaster chain effect (linear effects)	Risk amplification effect (nonlinear effects)
Theoretical basis	Disaster science and disaster system theory	Social-ecological systems, toughness, the theory of risk society
Risk appraisal	Risk probability forecast based on historical events	Based on climate risk appraisal
Leading policy	Disaster planning	Planning for adaptation to climate changes
Competent authorities	Department of Emergency Management, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Weather Bureau	Development Planning Department (NDRC), the Meteorological Department, Department of Environmental Management