INTRODUCTION

This is scientifically proven: climate change-induced global warming is increasing the frequency of natural disasters, such as extreme weather events. That extreme weather events have devastating impacts can be shown in many examples: Hurricane Matthew, which devastated Haiti in 2016, or the hurricane season in 2017, which severely hit the whole Caribbean several times. Data on GHG emissions show that the disasterprone States, which also often happen to be developing States (e.g. Pacific or Caribbean islands), are not contributing as much to anthropogenic climate change as are other States; however, at the same time, these States are the ones that suffer the most from natural disasters. This applies also in the case of financial means for disaster preparedness measures, for example for early warning mechanisms and post-disaster reconstruction. This book examines this injustice. Therefore, the starting points for this book are the questions of responsibilities and duties of both the unaffected and affected State in order to guarantee effective protection of the victims of natural disasters. The first aspect is relevant to financial assistance in the case of early warning systems and post-disaster reconstruction. The latter enjoys significance in the light of the obligation to provide humanitarian assistance and to seek international help, as well as the obligation to provide early warning to individuals suffering from natural disasters.

LACK OF A COHERENT LEGAL SYSTEM DEALING WITH NATURAL DISASTERS

The major finding in Chapter 1 is that there is no coherent legal framework with regard to natural disasters. Rather, it is a mixture of different areas of law such as human rights law, humanitarian law, international environmental law, international climate change law and general public international law. If the Draft Articles were adopted, they would constitute the first universal instrument dealing with all sorts of disasters, both human-made and natural disasters, and the protection of the victims. They were transferred for treaty adoption to the UNGA in 2016, which discussed the matter in 2018, but so far, they have not been adopted. Thus, the law applicable to natural disasters is fragmented.

This specific incoherence is also indicated by the fact that there is no coherent definition of ‘disaster’.