Rapid urbanization processes, for example, lead to growing numbers of settlements in highly flood- and storm-exposed coastal zones and low-lying areas. A large number of these fast-growing settlements comprise precarious infrastructure and are often inhabited by people in vulnerable situations. The risks and social costs associated with environmental and climate change are very unevenly distributed and closely linked to structural inequalities which leave disadvantaged people and communities more exposed and vulnerable to climate impacts.1 Women and children are often disproportionately affected. Differences in disaster risk reduction capacities become evident when comparing the percentage distribution of weather-related loss events with the percentage distribution of their impacts. Asia, for example, experienced 30 percent of the events but suffered 69 percent of fatalities.