Capacity Building Definitions

• Adaptive Capacity is the potential of a system to adjust to change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, and cope with consequences.
• Resilience includes the capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats without major disruption to social well-being, economy, and environment.

Extreme weather and climate events can escalate to disasters for vulnerable communities and systems, both human and natural. Weather- and climate-related disasters have social as well as physical dimensions. As a result, disaster risk is affected by changes in the frequency and severity of physical events and by diverse and dynamic patterns of exposure and vulnerability.