disaster risk reduction

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Disaster risk is a function of three key factors: extent of the hazard, degree of exposure to the hazard, and level of vulnerability to the hazard. Reducing risk, therefore, involves actions that reduce any or all of these factors.  For example, in the context of global pandemics, reducing the hazard could involve actions that help reduce the emergence of zoonotic diseases (i.e., maintaining habitat buffer zones), as well as reducing exposure through actions such as social distancing and wearing masks, and reducing vulnerability through vaccination.

Novel Futures has supported international organizations in the creation of guidance documents for disaster risk reduction. See below for examples.

Novel Futures Director, Darren Swanson, supported the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) in developing guidance for the insurance sector in clarifying the role of the sector in reducing disaster risks. Darren also served as the coordinating author for the partnership's flagship publication, From Protection to Prevention. 

Through research and writing support, Novel Futures Director, Darren Swanson, served as consultant to the Partnerships Division of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction to better understand the vulnerability of small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to disasters and how SMEs could build their resilience. Click here for more information.

Working with the Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Novel Futures Director, Darren Swanson, served as researcher and coordinating author to  document lessons learned and insights on how disaster risk reduction stakeholders around the world have prevented, prepared, responded and recovered from COVID-19. Click here for more information.

Published by the International Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) at the United Nations University, this report highlights the importance of integrated drought and flood management in the context of today's unpredictable climate and economy. Darren Swanson served the IHDP's editorial board as science writer for the publication.