Building a Just and Inclusive Future: Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Action
People with disabilities are among the hardest hit by climate change, yet their voices are often overlooked in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response efforts.
Without inclusive policies and proactive adaptation strategies, climate change will remain a major driver of inequality, displacement, and humanitarian crises. True climate justice means ensuring that every person—regardless of ability—has a say in shaping solutions that affect their lives.
At CBM Australia, we work with partners across the Indo-Pacific to strengthen disability-inclusive responses to climate-related disasters. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and environmental degradation are not just ecological issues—they are human rights challenges. For people with disabilities, these crises heighten risks of exclusion, displacement, loss of livelihood, and barriers to essential services, including healthcare.
We drive change at the local, national, and global levels through three key approaches:
- Advocacy – Ensuring the rights of people with disabilities are recognised in climate and disaster policies.
- Advisory – Supporting organisations and governments to embed disability inclusion in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and humanitarian response efforts.
- Community Programming – Partnering with local organisations to build resilience, strengthen accessible early warning systems, and create sustainable, disability-inclusive solutions.
A just response to the climate crisis is only possible when everyone is included. Together, we can create a world where no one is left behind.
Find out more about our work in disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with these resources:
- Our Lessons: disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction report
- Pacific Disaster Ready disability inclusion tip sheets
- The Impact of Climate Change
- Disability-Inclusive DRR Call to Action
- Promoting disability-inclusive climate justice: CBM Global at COP29
- Guidance notes for organisations of persons with disabilities on Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Action
- Our technical advisory project with the Climate Investment Funds
https://www.cbm.org.au/stories/building-a-just-and-inclusive-future-disability-inclusive-disaster-risk-reduction-and-climate-action
Related Stories
Vision for all: Why access to eye health is a precondition for inclusion
For millions of people in India, particularly those living...
Easy Read your way through our evaluation report
At CBM Australia, we recognise that accessibility is not optional – it is a...
Growing Stronger Together: Supporting OPDs across the Pacific
CBM Australia is proud to partner with Pacific Disability Forum on the Growing Stronger...