Ecosystems play a potentially important role in sustainably reducing the risk of disaster events worldwide. Yet, to date, there are few comprehensive studies that summarize the state of knowledge of ecosystem services and functions for disaster risk reduction. This paper builds scientific evidence through a review of 529 English-language articles published between 2000 and 2019. It catalogues the extent of knowledge on, and confidence in, ecosystems in reducing disaster risk. The data demonstrate robust links and cost-effectiveness between certain ecosystems in reducing specific hazards, something that was revealed to be particularly true for the role of vegetation in the stabilization of steep slopes. However, the published research was limited in geographic distribution and scope, with a concentration on urban areas of the Global North, with insufficient relevant research on coastal, dryland and watershed areas, especially in the Global South. Many types of ecosystem can provide sustainable and multifunctional approaches to disaster risk reduction. Yet, if they are to play a greater role, more attention is needed to fill research gaps and develop performance standards.

Adoption of sustainable management practices on agricultural lands and degraded soils can enhance soil quality, including the available water holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, soil aggregation, and susceptibility to topsoil crusting and erosion, with positive effect on the capacity to store carbon. Research in Argentina, India, and the West African Sahel has found that crop yields can be increased by 20-70 kg/ha for wheat, 10-50 kg/ha for rice, and 30-300 kg/ha for maize with every 1000kg /ha increase in soil organic carbon pool in the root zone. This has obvious bene ts for food security in developing regions, and could also offset fossil fuel emissions at the rate of 0.5 GtC/year through carbon sequestration in agricultural soils 65. However, achieving such high increases in SOC requires high levels of water input, which is a major constraint in most drylands and implies potential externalities and opportunity costs that have not yet been adequately explored.

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