Climate Change and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly pronounced and powerful, taking on an alarming scale and imposing enormous economic and human costs on humanity. However, the burden of these costs is unevenly distributed with the poor-est and most vulnerable bearing the heaviest toll. Such a situation requires specific and targeted measures, if the humanity seriously intends to meet the goals of International Sustainable Development Strategy. This is an unprecedented challenge to humanity not only because of the size of financial resources needed to be mobilized, but also because of the tension between socio-economic and political short, mid and long-term goals and aims, tension between the needs to ensure a rapid and quanti-tative economic growth and the needs to reduce mass poverty and social inequality. The article attempts to review policies and measures undertaken by governments and civil society groups to resolve the above tensions by developing integrative adaptation policies and measures, which allow to simultaneously address the problems of environ-ment degradation, natural disaster risks and socio-economic development. It focuses on most vulnerable segments of population: self-employed and employees of micro, small and medium enterprises, both formal and informal. The article highlights prevail-ing world-wide trends in disaster risk management and risk reduction efforts and tries to identify most innovative and effective programs, which could be adjusted to specific conditions of Russia.