It is only recently that the importance of integrating local knowledge and practices into development and conservation projects has started to receive real recognition, but the approach is still far from being mainstream. This book is one of a set of three prepared to help increase awareness and understanding, particularly among implementing organisations, of local knowledge, practices, and contexts related to disaster preparedness, so that they can be used in disaster management activities. This first book summarises the results of a cross-disciplinary literature review, and presents a framework that can be used to help understand local knowledge on disaster preparedness. It highlights the over-riding processes, including the need to understand the nature of the local knowledge, the transformation processes influencing it, the key dimensions, and the links between local knowledge, disaster preparedness, and poverty reduction. The book is an outcome of the project Living with risk sharing knowledge on disaster preparedness funded by the European Commission through their Humanitarian Aid department (DG ECHO) as part of the Disaster Preparedness ECHO programme (DIPECHO) in South Asia, and by ICIMOD.