Abstract

The article is based on an oral presentation at the seminar «Extreme Events: The Cost of Climate Change» held at ICCG in Venice on the 20th of April 2012. The presentation addresses several issues related to the empirical evidence of the increasing damages caused by extreme climatic events. The evidence is verified by the increasing trends highlighted analysing data collected in the recent past. In this context, the incidence of socio-economic drivers in determining the disasters' entity has been discussed. The concepts of socio-economic resilience and vulnerability and their relevance for extreme events are also clearly illustrated. The results of the discussion are presented analysing the last IPCC Special Report «Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation» (SREX).