SEI to work with UN on disaster risk and vulnerability

Thursday, 13 October 2011 22:50

Small shop-owners battle the rising flood waters in Bangkok, Thailand. Credit: Philip Roeland/Flickr

As UN promotes International Day for Disaster Reduction, SEI to supply revised and improved guidance for assessing climate risk and vulnerability.

According to the UN, disaster risk reduction is about understanding the personal and environmental risks of events like earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and landslides, and finding ways to reduce these risks and to bounce back quickly if they hit.

Climate change adds to the risk people face from disasters. To effectively respond to climate change impacts, risk and vulnerability must be properly assessed. There are many tools and methods that could be applied, but there is a lack of clear guidance and it has become difficult to see the forest for the trees. Academic and political debate about priorities for assessment adds to the confusion.

In partnership with the UN, SEI will cut through the thicket of information to meet the strong demand for clear guidance on risk and vulnerability assessment at local, national and international levels.

As part of the Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA), led by the UN Environment Programme, SEI leads the revision and improvement of existing guidance to produce an informative, non-prescriptive handbook for decision-makers and adaptation practitioners – a one-stop resource on assessing vulnerability to climate change impacts and available approaches to risk assessment.

The guidance will be available in time for COP18 in 2012.

PROVIA leader Richard Klein said, ‘Aside from the academic interest in assessing climate risk and vulnerability, the preparation of the guidance is of great political significance. Assessments of climate risk and vulnerability will be used, among other things, to set priorities for financial support to the most vulnerable countries and communities. The guidance we prepare should ensure that these assessments are based on the latest and most rigorous scientific knowledge.’


Read more on the PROVIA website »