Research on Integrated Disaster Risk Governance in the Context of Global Environmental Change

To achieve sustainable development, understanding of the impact of global environmental change on natural resources and the frequency, intensity, and spatial-temporal patterns of all kinds of hazards should be advanced. In recent years, severe losses of human lives and property have been caused by very large-scale natural hazards all over the world, such as the freezing rain and snowstorm disaster in China in 2008, Typhoon Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007, and Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005. Strengthening the study on integrated disaster risk governance has become a pressing issue of sustainable development. Supported by the Chinese National Committee for the International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change(CNC-IHDP), its Working Group for Risk Governance proposed to the IHDP in 2006 to launch a new international research project on integrated risk governance(IRG) in the context of global environmental change. The IRG-Project was accepted by the IHDP Scientific Committee as a pilot science project in 2008 and was approved in 2010 as a full IHDP core science project under the Strategic Plan 2007–2015. The research foci of this international science project will be on the issues of science, technology, and management of integrated disaster risk governance based on case comparisons around the world, in order to advance the theories and methodologies of integrated disaster risk governance and to improve the practices of integrated disaster reduction in the real world.

Living with Global Climate Diversity——Suggestions on International Governance for Coping with Climate Change Risk

Climatic conditions have important influences on human life and the sustainable development of economies and societies. Climate varies in space and time. People have always lived with climate diversity, and the two influence each other. The degree of mutual influence differs at different spatial and temporal scales. Since the industrial revolution, the human effect on climate has gradually increased, and expanded from local to global scale. To allow people to live in harmony with nature and prevent disaster risks, the International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change(IHDP) announced the implementation of a scientific plan aimed at discussing risk governance, especially with respect to large-scale disaster risks, under global environmental change conditions(IHDP—Integrated Risk Governance Project, 2009–2019). As the initiator of this scientific plan, the authors propose a strategic development framework for living with global climate diversity considering a series of large-scale disasters in China and around the world in recent years and relevant experiences and lessons, and offer suggestions for the global mechanism of dealing with climate change risks.

Dilemmas and Pathways to Dealing with Flood Problems in Twenty-First Century China

With more than 60 percent of China’s 1.34 billion population,about 50 percent of its most productive arable land,and the world’s second largest and rapidly growing national GDP exposed to flooding of various kinds,China has an intractable flood problem.Envisioning potential impacts of climate change and continued intensification of floodplain development driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization,it is very likely that China will see a continued increase of exposure to floods this century.This overview article outlines and discusses fundamental dilemmas,plausible pathways,and key options for managing future flood risks in China in the context of rapid socioeconomic transition and climate change.Fundamental dilemmas are the embedded difficult trade-off choices,from balancing economic development with flood vulnerability reduction,to coordination and cooperation among increasingly diverse actors and across scales.Among plausible pathways,this article argues that a resilience strategy for managing flood risk is desirable.It would require human adjustment to flood,not by aiming for full protection and control but by adjusting our use of floodplains,integrating and experimenting with a wide range of flood risk management options,so that a dynamic balance is maintained between exposure and coping capacity and flood risk is contained at an acceptable level.Embracing variability and uncertainty lies at the heart of such a flood resilience centered paradigm.Reducing the flood toll cannot be had without trade-offs in economic development,food production,and agricultural productivity.

Fourteen Actions and Six Proposals for Science and Technology-Based Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia Second Asian Science and Technology Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction:SciencePolicy Dialogue for Implementation of the Sendai Framework,April 2018

1 Introduction The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 shifts the focus from managing disasters to reducing risks.Such a shift requires a better understanding of risk in all its dimensions of environment,hazards,exposure,and vulnerability;a disaster risk governance that

Green Development and Integrated Risk Governance

The‘‘International Symposium on Integrated Governance of Large-scale Disaster and Economic Risks’’was held in Qianhai,Shenzhen,China on 13–14 May 2017.The Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management of Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Educa-