IRDR - Addressing the challenges of natural & human-induced environmental hazards

On 15 March 2015, the GAR results and main findings were presented during the working session on Global Risk Trends at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan. IRDR SC member Omar Dario Cardona presented the progress in probabilistic risk modelling. Omar also serves as the Director of IRDR International Centre of Excellence in Understanding Risk & Safety based in the Institute of Environmental Studies (Instituto de Estudios Ambientales – IDEA), National University of Colombia (Universidad Nacional de Colombia), Manizales City, Colombia

See Omar Cardona’s presentation: Multi-hazard Probabilistic Assessment

Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, UN Resident Coordinator in Malaysia, chaired the Global Risk Trends session and Andrew Maskrey, Coordinating Lead Author or the GAR, answered questions from the audience.

The GAR 2015 report concludes that, while significant progress has been achieved in recent decades on disaster management, little progress has been made in addressing disaster risks. It also finds that some global disaster risks are growing due to climate change. To succeed in dealing with a new paradigm of risk, the report suggests a reinterpretation of disaster risk management, placing it at the core of the development process. Download GAR 2015

The panelists included Allan Lavell, UN 2015 Sasakawa Awardee, who spoke about the need to focus not only on economic costs, but on human lives, and stressed the importance of making global risk studies relevant and accessible to local communities who are most impacted by disasters. See: IRDR contributes to 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR15)