Risk and planet earth : natural hazards vulnerability integrated adaptation strategies ; papers from the conference Risk and Planet Earth on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the University of Leipzig Germany Disasters are a major challenge for countries across the globe. Current debates on climate change focus both on extreme weather events that trigger disasters and their long term variability. Effective disaster prevention requires detailed understanding of and learning from past disasters and the implementation of adaptation strategies in order to mitigate or control disasters resulting from climatic changes already under way. Among them flood hurricane heavy rain and drought related disasters take a prominent place. Disaster prevention and preventive adaptation strategies present a complex challenge. Predicting climatic changes is not enough: we need scenarios that describe the probable effects of these changes on local climates and sea levels. Just as important is the implementation of technical and organizational changes in order to prevent or at least mitigate the impact of disasters. These changes obviously must take into account complex aspects of urbanization and socio technical development. Risk and Planet Earth addresses the complexity and the multidisciplinarity of this challenge. The authors of this collection deal with a wide range of aspects. The volume thus presents an exemplary overview of the breadth of long term adaptation strategies and applied field research taking available climate predictions as prominent examples. Being multidisciplinary in its approach the book addresses researchers concerned with disaster prevention interested in transcending their own disciplinary boundaries as well as practitioners in the field and the general public. Publishers description