Disaster Risk Reduction contribution to Peacebuilding programmes

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to provide theoretical evidence that a disaster risk reduction perspective within peacebuilding programmes, particularly in countries where disasters and conflict overlap, can contribute positively to the transformation of conflict into sustainable peace. An increasing number of disasters in fragile states and countries affected by armed conflict has brought the attention to know in which way disasters and conflicts collide when they come to occur in the same area, and how disasters can influence on-going peace processes. In order to demonstrate that argument the thesis draws the evolution of the disaster risk management models and peacebuilding frameworks along the last decades and make use of a comprehensive theoretical background to support the subsequent analysis. This thesis contributes to the academic literature and humanitarian reports of studies describing the relation between disasters and conflict but, more concretely, it aims to fill the gap in research studying the links between a disaster risk reduction strategy and peacebuilding programmes. The conclusions of the thesis are that disaster risk reduction initiatives contribute positively in several ways to the different key areas of peacebuilding programmes either as concrete initiatives or as a crosscutting issue.