Rationale
Disasters, whether natural or man-made, can have devastating impacts on communities, economies, and the environment. In recent years, notwithstanding global efforts on disaster risk management, the frequency and severity of disasters have increased, underscoring the need for effective disaster resilience strategies.
The European Commission recognizes the importance of building resilience at local, national and EU levels to minimize the adverse effects of disasters and promote sustainable development. In the area of civil protection, the newly adopted Union disaster resilience goals represent one of the main instruments aimed at strengthening the capacity of the EU and the UCPM participating countries to anticipate and withstand the effects of future major disasters and emergencies. Together with the Sendai Framework and the EU strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change and the EU Climate Law, these policy frameworks are contributing to a common objective to increase European preparedness to disasters and the future impacts of climate change.
The Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre, as the Science Pillar of the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network, sets out to facilitate synergies across the disaster risk management and climate change communities to foster better risk awareness and prevention and enhanced disaster resilience.
The 7th annual seminar will move beyond alarming statements on disasters severity, climate extremes and the future disaster scenarios and will shift the attention to action and knowledge that would help advance the EU resilience agenda, including the Union disaster resilience goals. The aim of the annual seminar is to look into how to be better prepared to face the changing risk landscape and increase resilience at local, national and EU levels, through disaster risk management governance, early warning systems and effective risk communication.
The aim of this year’s DRMKC Annual Seminar, organised in the framework of the Science pillar of the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network, is to bring different voices from the Commission’s policy and research directorates, national authorities and other stakeholders to reflect on how to define the pathways to a more resilient EU especially in relation to climate and disaster risks. With scientists and practitioners, we will co-design solutions and identify collaborative approaches towards implementing the EU’s disaster resilience agenda, including the Union Disaster Resilience Goals, from planning and adaptation for climate resilient cities and regions, to areas where better coordination among Commission directorates and between the scientific and operational actors is needed, to vulnerability assessments, horizon scanning and strategic foresight scenarios.
- Share good practices, innovative approaches, and technological advancements in systemic risk strategic foresight and resilience building.
- Identify how science is helping to implement the disaster resilience goals: related to risk awareness, adaptive risk assessment and anticipation.
- Facilitate knowledge exchange and networking opportunities among stakeholders in the field of disaster resilience.
- Foster collaboration between government agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, and the private sector to enhance disaster resilience at all levels.
- Government officials and policymakers involved in disaster management and resilience, climate adaptation and mitigation.
- Representatives from national and international organizations
- Academics and researchers specializing in disaster resilience
- Private sector representatives from industries with a stake in disaster resilience, such as construction, insurance, and technology.
- Individuals and communities affected by past disasters, seeking to share their experiences and learn from others.
A series of activities designed to engage participants and foster meaningful discussions. The proposed format includes:
- Panel discussions featuring diverse perspectives on disaster resilience, scientific support to risk assessment process, including lessons learned, key challenges and innovative approaches.
- Participatory workshop sessions on risk communication, early warning systems and DRM governance to tap into collective intelligence and foster engagement and knowledge exchange among participants.
- Examples from projects showcasing good practices related to disaster resilience.
- Networking sessions to facilitate collaboration and partnerships among participants.
- Increased awareness and understanding of the pathways to disaster resilience.
- Strengthened collaboration and partnerships between different actors working towards disaster resilience.
- Identification of innovative solutions and good practices in disaster resilience that can be replicated in other contexts and that can support the implementation of the Union Disaster Resilience Goals.
- Identification of knowledge gaps that can shape the future research agendas and the Science Pillar roadmap for 2024.
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On the 8th November, ahead of the DRMKC Annual Seminar, a Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network online forerunner event will be held on cascading climate risks. The event will be an informative session, at the beginning of November. It will be the occasion to host CASCADES and CLIMAAX, two Horizon projects, to present their case studies and methodologies.
More information and registration details available at the following link:
https://civil-protection-knowledge-network.europa.eu/events/globally-cascading-climate-risks-european-climate-risk-assessments
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Following the annual seminar, on the 22nd November, the Wildfire Risk Management Project Clustering Event 2023 will take place in the same venue with the aim to exchange project activities, develop joint visions and collaboration options and to facilitate the science-policy-practice exchange. The event is organised by European Research Executive Agency (REA) together with the Firelogue project and in collaboration with the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network.
More information available at the following link:Wildfire Risk Management Clustering Event 2023 | UCP Knowledge Network: Applied knowledge for action (europa.eu)
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The ENGAGE project will host its final event in Brussels on November 23rd, 2023 dedicated to the cross-disciplinary sharing of perspectives, best practices, and innovative directions to enhancing the resilience of societies to nature-derived and man-made disasters.
The ENGAGE consortium would like to invite first responders, public authorities, individuals from the research community, and policy makers to an insightful, one-day event which will feature discussion panels, presentations, and interactive workshops. Come join us at Transforma Evere!
More information available at the following link:https://eena.org/events/eena-events/engage-enhancing-citizen-involvement-in-disaster-preparedness-response-and-recovery/