The members of CARN-AP have been contributing in critical knowledge generation, provide services for adaptation to climate change, volunteering in solving problems and all are aiming to reduce risks as well as promoting community resilience to climate change. There is a common understanding in perceiving risks by the members of the network that helped to assemble this network. The common risk perceptions are:

• Climate change is altering the face of disaster risks, not only through increased weatherrelated risks and sea-level and temperature rises, but also through increases societal vulnerabilities. Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation share a common space of concerns and reducing the vulnerability of communities will contribute in achieving sustainable development goals.

•  There is significant convergence of the problems that disaster risk reduction and climate change resilience seek to address. Populations are already exposed to climate-related hazards and effects will be at greater risk due to a projected increase in the frequency and/or intensity of those hazards.

• Populations exposed to hazards may experience stresses due to longerterm changes in the climate – such as changes in seasonality, unpredictable rainfall and temperature rise and sea-level rise – that will affect their livelihoods and health, making them more vulnerable to all types of traumas, events and further changes.

• Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation also share a common conceptual understanding of the components of risk and the processes of building resilience. The two approaches regard risk as the product of exposure and vulnerability, either to hazard(s) or effect(s) of climate change, or both. Greater the vulnerability, exposure and magnitude or likelihood of the hazard/climate change effect, the greater the risk.

•  To reduce disaster and climate change risks, exposure of communities needs to be minimized, vulnerability reduced, and capacities for resilience strengthened in ways that address both disaster and climate change risk simultaneously, neither approach compromising the other. This is a dynamic process requiring continual effort across economic, social, cultural, environmental, institutional and political spheres to move from vulnerability to resilience.

With this realization the members have decided to initiate the process to integrate Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Resilience issues. Many members of the network initiated actions towards innovation and promotion of locally appropriate sustainable, scalable and affordable solutions to help achieve disaster and climate change resilience of communities. The magnitude of climate change is so enormous that it might appear that any individual effort will be inconsequential. By acting collectively, a great deal can be accomplished. Being convinced with the fact that a consistent and concerted effort is required to push the agenda, special emphasis was given on a number of issues. These are as follows:

(i) Share relevant learning and experience and promotion of common understanding of all stakeholders
(ii) Promotion of convergence among all lateral stakeholders with the help of strong database built on the basis of analysis of data and their dissemination at all levels and
(iii) Building of a collaborative framework with clearly defined role and domain of each actor.