Disaster Risk Reduction, ICCG’s New Hot Topic in 2017

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Every year, ICCG has chosen a topic of particular relevance in global climate change governance to guide our research, education, and partnership-building efforts.
This year’s Hot Topic, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), is a central component of the post-2015 development agenda, and complementary to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and a resilient world as defined in the Paris Agreement. Moreover, it is poignantly relevant in a world where the risks posed by climate change are increasing materializing. It is no coincidence that extreme weather events are deemed by the World Economic Forum to be the risks with the highest impact and highest likelihood in 2017.

Disaster risk refers to the potential losses that a natural hazard—such as a hurricane, flood, or storm—could pose to persons and communities, damaging their safety and well-being. Disaster risk reduction is the systematic effort to reduce the factors in our society and built environment that magnify the impact of natural hazards. It includes activities like disaster preparedness and early warning, reducing the exposure of persons and property, tackling the consequences of poverty and inequality, providing education on disaster preparedness and risk reduction, and implementing sound land management. In its aim to promote people and communities’ resilience, DRR is intrinsically tied to climate change adaptation efforts and sustainable development.

This year, ICCG will aim to deepen our understanding of disaster risk reduction by exploring the topic through the activities of its two observatories – Climate Policy Observer and Best Climate Practices – as well as numerous seminars, webinars, video lecture series, and more. ICCG hopes to thereby create a platform for the dissemination of information that is comprehensive and useful to policymakers and the public.

The webinar series planned for 2017 kicks off on February 8th with “The Triple Dividend of Resilience – A New Business Case for Disaster Risk Management”, given by Swenja Surminski, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. The series is inspired by the relationship between DRR and sustainable development goals and will pay particular attention to the connections between risk reduction, adaptation, and social, economic and cultural development.

Click here for more information on the Hot Topic, as well as a list of relevant events and publications.

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