If the nations of the world were trying to grow heightened disaster impacts in a petri dish, they couldn’t have found conditions much better aligned than today’s urban dynamics, according to the much-heralded 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction. The report, Risk and Poverty in a Changing Climate, was released by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Sunday.

Increased population in hazard-prone areas—including scores of poor people living in ad hoc housing—booming growth in the absence of adequate safety requirements, and environmental degradation have combined to create a perfect storm of disaster risk. Throw in heightened disaster intensity and frequency resulting from climate change and the outlook could be bleak, despite progress in disaster response, preparedness, and early warning, the report stated.

But correcting those "risk drivers"—vulnerable livelihoods, unplanned urbanization, and ecosystem decline—can lessen the impacts of inevitable disasters, create jobs, and end the "vicious circle" causing the current trend, according to the report (and the slick marketing campaign that accompanies it). "Invest today for a safer tomorrow" is the both the report’s tagline and something of a slogan being used to push the report’s recommendations.

"Rather than an expense, investing in poverty and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation should be seen as an investment in building a more secure, stable, sustainable and equitable future," Assistant UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlström is quoted as saying in a Reuters article.

The sticking point is that persuading governments to pay those costs forward is as difficult as ever. In some cases, governments are ill-equipped to handle influxes of immigrants and cope by cutting corners on infrastructure creation and building standards, according to a New York Times article by Andrew Revkin. In others, corruption or inexperience could be the cause. Either way, the result is the same.

"Without governance capacity, the faster you develop, it’s almost like the faster you’re building disasters," lead report author Andrew Maskrey told the Times.

Despite the ambition and depth of information contained in the UN Report, some disaster preparedness experts are unhappy and "feel there’s little substance behind international pledges to cut risks," Revkin said in a related posting on his Dot Earth blog. They point to previous ineffective efforts and a lack of willingness to take a hardline with countries that don’t participate.

"There is a long, long way to go, and unless and until the U.N. system has the support and political will to name and shame, and to hold countries to account for failing to protect their citizens from avoidable harm in extreme natural events, most national governments won’t prioritize disaster risk reduction," risk and vulnerability expert Ben Wisner told the Times.

The UN is well aware of the uphill climb ahead, according to a recent Q&A session in which Wahlström answered questions submitted by AlertNet readers. But they’re also hoping the shock value of the report’s 30 years worth of data might cause leaders into better behavior when it comes to addressing risk and poverty.

“The report is the first of its kind to give strong evidence of how disasters are both a cause and a consequence of poverty,” she said. “Even armed with this knowledge, it will take some time to change the popular mindset, but we hope the report's many realities will finally jolt the decision makers and governments charged with making the necessary changes to address the two problems in a more coherent manner.”