The emphasis of integrated disaster and risk research has shifted from topical analysis, such as dealing with disasters associated with natural hazards, technological accidents or environmental crises, to a comprehensive analysis of interconnected and mutually interactive risk sources and crises. This interaction has often been framed in the language of “polycrisis” indicating the potentially amplifying and cascading effects of each crisis from one domain to the next. At the same time, the literature on systemic risk also includes the effects of multiple, interacting risks on the functionality and survivability of entire systems such as climate stability, cybersecurity or energy production. New approaches such as foresight, integrated risk assessment, and adaptive management, are developed and applied to cope with this new challenge.
The webinar addresses this new perspective on crisis and risks. Contributors have been authors or editors of papers that were published in a recent special issue of the International Journal for Disaster Risk Sciences. The goal of the webinar is to share insights of poly crisis research and contribute to a joint understanding of polycrisis and systemic risk for risk assessment, risk and crisis governance and effective communication to different audiences.
Moderator: Ortwin Renn, Director of Systemic Risk Research, EXTRA
Participants:
- Thomas Reuter, EXTRA, Australia
- Pia-Johanna Schweiter, RIFS, Germany
- Huan Liu, South China University of Technology, China
- Guoyi Han, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden
- Jonathan Donges, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
- Reinhard Mechler, IIASA
IIASA’s Reinhard Mechler presents insights from a recent paper on ‘Positive Externalities in the Polycrisis. Effectively addressing disaster and climate risks for generating multiple resilience dividends.’
The World Academy of Art and Science’s EXTRA InfoHub is a one-stop info hub for decision-makers who need to understand the most pressing issues confronting humanity today. A multidisciplinary working group within the World Academy of Arts and Science, we curate materials from leading organisations across the globe to create an up-to-date, concise and comprehensive overview of major existential threats and risks, thus enabling the strategic foresight needed to create pathways towards human security and wellbeing for all.
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