Introduction

In recent years, disaster risk management and hazard mitigation planning have become a crucial policy requirement for countries, regions, and cities, especially in the face of increasing natural hazards in the face of climate change (Birkmann, Joern & Pardoe, Joanna, 2014). In a country like Ukraine, existing climate vulnerabilities have been exacerbated in the face of conflict. In this section of the paper, existing global hazards, types of hazards, and accepted responses are discussed, in the field of disaster risk management literature.  

Definitions of Hazards 

Natural Hazards: Natural hazards include any threats to people or property from events caused by natural systems, such as earthquakes, floods, and windstorms.  

Climate Change Hazards: Natural hazards can also be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, such as those created by rising sea levels, increasing heat, precipitation, and other compounded risk factors triggered by increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

Conflict Hazards: Environmental hazards caused by armed conflict, such as physical damage to environments, rising pollution and fires due to bombardment, and scorched earth tactics are hazards that are exacerbated and caused due to armed conflict.

Cascading Disaster: A primary hazard, particularly due to armed conflict, can trigger secondary disasters such as, particularly when several interconnected hazards intersect. In addition, a hazard can lead to a disaster when an event, human or naturally caused, has secondary consequences to infrastructure, to the environment, or to the systems that support essential health, safety, economy, and other services. This kind of hazard can be described as a domino effect or a cascading disaster.  

Definitions of Hazard Mitigation and Resilience  

The traditional model of the disaster management cycle involves four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. To build long-term strategies to deal with disasters, two new models of disaster management are adopted: resilience and adaptation. For example, climate adaptation is the process of preparing for and adjusting to the current and projected impacts of climate change. The goal of climate adaptation is to protect people and places by making them less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Disaster resilience is the ability of individuals, communities, organizations, and states to adapt to and recover from hazards, shocks or stresses without compromising long-term prospects for development (Hyogo Framework, 2016). Adaptive capacity is the potential or ability of a system, region, or community to adapt to the effects or impacts of climate change or other hazards and disasters (IPCC 2014).