Even a decade ago, you might have been able to compartmentalize natural disaster relief as separate from the effects of climate change. Today, however, the two challenges are so intertwined that a new approach to disaster philanthropy may signal its convergence with climate change mitigation and a growing awareness that work in one area is inexorably connected to the other.

It is only in recent years that we have seen an emerging shift in the philanthropic response from relief to resilience, from funding recovery efforts to engaging with the root causes of many natural disasters.

In the past, weather-related disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires, however unpredictable, followed seasonal patterns that shaped how people planned for and responded to extreme weather. But as they continue to grow in intensity and frequency, it’s unclear whether philanthropy’s shifting approach to addressing these disasters’ root causes will keep pace.

For example, Hurricane Katrina, in August of 2005, presented as a once-in-a-generation disaster. In response, people, corporations, and the philanthropic sector supplied more than $500 million in humanitarian aid, including $409 million in contributions to the American Red Cross to meet the basic needs of victims in New Orleans communities. At the time, the narrative around investments in failed infrastructure, urban planning, and community recovery dominated the focus of the philanthropic sector.

Little attention was paid to what we now understand as the causal relationship between warming ocean temperatures and the destructive capacity of hurricanes wrought by climate change. That is no longer the case. As just one example, the Green Climate Fund now makes their proactive philanthropic approach explicit, funding “projects with a strong focus on increasing direct access and building resilience in the developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.”

The philanthropic response to wildfires has gone through a similar evolution. In 2003, responses to devastating fires around San Diego, California, focused almost entirely on emergency aid, recovery, and rebuilding. Two decades later, disaster recovery remains an essential part of wildfire funding. However, there’s also a growing focus on resilience initiatives and engagement with long-term conservation and risk reduction projects that include accelerating the use of data and technology to better inform communities of risk; conserving land to prevent overdevelopment; and more effectively managing vulnerable ecosystems.

These examples not only show how far the philanthropic sector has moved in connecting climate change with natural disasters. They also demonstrate how much progress is left to be made.

Read the full article about climate change and natural disaster relief by Daniel X Matz at Candid.