Abstract

Remarkable global efforts to address climate change, reduce the risk of disasters, bring about sustainable development, and strengthen humanitarian response are currently in motion. Each of these efforts emerged from a different group of actors at the national and international levels. Each uses different terminology and is based on different conceptual understandings and normative frameworks. The convergence of developments in these four areas offers exciting opportunities for cross-fertilisation and even synergies in actions and policies to address present and future human needs. But this cross-fertilisation does not happen automatically. Scholars, practitioners and policy-makers alike are more comfortable talking with those in their own field and those who use their own jargon.