Break silos to curb risk

Source(s): United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
The 2007 floods in the United Kingdom were a wake-up call for the country's management of disaster risk
The 2007 floods in the United Kingdom were a wake-up call for the country's management of disaster risk

GENEVA, 27 January 2015 – Breaking the silos between a plethora of agencies is a critical tool to help curb the threat of natural and man-made hazards, delegates heard today at a global conference on using science to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The United Kingdom, which has faced several high-profile flooding crises over recent years, is a case in point, having worked for a decade to remove barriers between the various players responsible for forecasting and dealing with them.

Mr. Stuart Wainwright, Deputy Director of International Resilience at the country’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat, told UNISDR Science and Technology Conference that the wake-up call had been a 2007 flooding disaster that damaged thousands of homes.

The lessons of that crisis led two technical agencies, the Met Office and the Environmental Agency, which previously had been working separately on flooding, to develop a combined approach which has paid off at the national and local level.

“The impact of this has been huge in allowing the UK to respond to crises. And it was just a matter of bringing two scientific organisations together,” Mr. Wainwright said.

As a result, the United Kingdom thought even bigger and went on in 2011 to set up the Natural Hazards Partnership, which brings together more than a dozen different partner bodies.

The overall goal is to broaden the focus of natural hazards risk management from what had been predominately an early warning system towards a more holistic and integrated approach, encompassing more emphasis on risk reduction and prevention.

The Natural Hazards Partnership provides information, research and analysis on natural hazards for the development of more effective policies, communications and services for civil contingencies, governments and the responder community across the United Kingdom.

Mr. Wainwright said that the model was now being rolled out at the European level, and that a pilot project was in place for a global equivalent. “We’re really keen to work with other countries on this,” he added.

Mr. Clive Davis, Jamaica’s disaster risk reduction pointman, said international cooperation was critical for obvious reasons: “We live in a global village. So an incident that appears to be taking place far away from you could have an impact on you.”

The three-day conference in Geneva, which began today, seek to harness the power of science and technology for the Sendai Framework – an international agreement adopted in March 2015 with the aim of achieving substantial reductions in disaster deaths, impacts and economic losses at the global, regional, national and local levels.

The Sendai Framework was the first in a series of four global accords put in place last year to shape the global agenda for the next 15 years, the Sendai Framework was followed by the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the COP21 Paris Agreement on climate change.

“We are all called upon now to make sure that all these frameworks and agendas are aligned,” said Ms. Flavia Schlegel, Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences at UNESCO.

“We will have to make sure that we have efficient delivery on the ground. The Sendai Framework stresses the importance of science and technology,” she told delegates, adding that it was essential to strengthen platforms that bring scientists and policymakers together, and to mainstream disaster risk reduction and science in government decision-making.

Besides breaking down barriers between different scientific organisations – including academia and the private sector – participants also flagged the need for scientific information and related policy about risk to be pitched in a way that makes sense and is practical for all.

"Often the policymakers are not the users of the technology. Connecting with the users is critical," said Mr. Robert Glasser, head of UNISDR.

“We know that science and technology can make a significant contribution to the resilience of communities, said Mr. David Applegate, Associate Director for Natural Hazards at the US Geological Survey, pointing to early warning systems and building codes, among other areas.

“But we also know that effective application depends on how the science is delivered,” Mr. Applegate said. “All these tools need to reach the last mile. You have to have an end-to-end system."

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