Mapping Climate Services for Disaster Risk Management: A Systematic Review and Research Gaps from a Policy Process Perspective

Climate services (CS) are crucial for mitigating and managing the impacts and risks associated with climate-induced disasters. While evidence over the past decade underscores their effectiveness across various domains, particularly agriculture, to maximize their potential, it is crucial to identify emerging priority areas and existing research gaps for future research agendas. As a contribution to this effort, this paper employs the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to review the state-of-the-art in the field of climate services for disaster risk management. A comprehensive search across five literature databases combined with a snowball search method using ResearchRabbit was conducted and yielded 242 peer-reviewed articles, book sections, and reports over 2013-2023 after the screening process. The analysis revealed flood, drought, and food insecurity as major climate-related disasters addressed in the reviewed literature. Major climate services addressed included early warning systems, (sub)seasonal forecasts and impact-based warnings. Grounded in the policy processes’ theoretical perspective, the main focus identified and discussed three prevailing policy-oriented priority areas: 1) development of climate services, 2) use-adoption-uptake, and 3) evaluation of climate services. In response to the limitations of the prevalent supply-driven and top-down approach to climate services promotion, co-production emerges as a cross-cutting critical aspect of the identified priority areas. Despite the extensive research in the field, more attention is needed, particularly pronounced in the science-policy interface perspective, which in practice bridges scientific knowledge and policy decisions for effective policy processes. This perspective offers a valuable analytical lens as an entry point for further investigation. Hence, future research agendas would generate insightful evidence by scrutinizing this critical aspect given its importance to institutions and climate services capacity, to better understand intricate facets of the development and the integration of climate services into disaster risk management.

Community-Based Approach in the Prevention and Management of Flood Disasters in Babessi Sub-Division (Ndop Plain, North West Cameroon)

Flood is a recurrent natural disaster that has caused enormous human and material damage in many places and continues to hit local committees at an alarming rate. The need to setup permanent committees to prevent and manage flood disasters by local communities is therefore indispensable. In rural areas, the creation of such a structure is always a welcome relief to flood victims but it is often marred by numerous management problems. This study aimed to analyze the community-based approach in the prevention and management of flood disasters in Babessi Subdivision (North West Cameroon), to identify the causes of flood disasters and the preventive strategies used by this local community. A total number of 300 questionnaires as well as structured interviews were used to collect data in the field and the data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics. The main results revealed that the main cause of flood disasters is heavy and consistent rainfall. Also, poor refuse disposal and drainage system management contribute to floods. The identification of areas likely to be affected by floods and preventing the riparian population from constructing houses along these areas especially beside the main rivers are the flood preventive measures adopted by the local flood management committee. The flood victims are reluctant to relocate to the settlement site earmarked by the Government, meanwhile, the local flood committee do not have the legal tools to forcefully relocate them. The population of Babessi needs to be sensitized on the impending dangers of flood hazard and be encouraged to participate in implementing the adopted strategies to prevent and manage subsequent flood disasters.

Information Management in Disaster and Humanitarian Response: A Case in United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

To guarantee a unified response to disasters, humanitarian organizations work together via the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Although the OCHA has made great strides to improve its information management and increase the availability of accurate, real-time data for disaster and humanitarian response teams, significant gaps persist. There are inefficiencies in the emergency management of data at every stage of its lifecycle: collection, processing, analysis, distribution, storage, and retrieval. Disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management are the two main tenets of the United Nations’ worldwide plan for disaster management. Information systems are crucial because of the crucial roles they play in capturing, processing, and transmitting data. The management of information is seldom discussed in published works. The goal of this study is to employ qualitative research methods to provide insight by facilitating an expanded comprehension of relevant contexts, phenomena, and individual experiences. Humanitarian workers and OCHA staffers will take part in the research. The study subjects will be chosen using a random selection procedure. Online surveys with both closed- and open-ended questions will be used to compile the data. UN OCHA offers a structure for the handling of information via which all humanitarian actors may contribute to the overall response. This research will enable the UN Office for OCHA better gather, process, analyze, disseminate, store, and retrieve data in the event of a catastrophe or humanitarian crisis.

The use of UAVs for landslide disaster risk research and disaster risk management: a literature review

On a global scale,from 2005 to 2019,there were 275 high-magnitude,low-frequency disasters that involved 14,172 fatalities and four million affected people.Similar patterns have taken place during longer periods of time in recent decades.This paper aims to analyse the contribution of the international landslide research community to disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management in reference to the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs)in a literature review.The first section notes the relevance of disaster risk research contributions for the implementation of initiatives and strategies concerning disaster risk management.The second section highlights background information and current applications of drones in the field of hazards and risk.The methodology,which included a systematic peer review of journals in the ISI Web of Science and SCOPUS,was presented in the third section,where the results include analyses of the considered data.This study concludes that most current scholarly efforts remain rooted in hazards and post-disaster evaluation and response.Future landslide disaster risk research should be transdisciplinary in order to strengthen participation of the various relevant stakeholders in contributing to integrated disaster risk management at local,subnational,national,regional and global levels.

Learning from Japan for Possible Improvement in Existing Disaster Risk Management System of Nepal

Nepal and Japan, both are multi-hazard prone countries having experience of devastating disasters. It is difficult, if not impossible, to stop natural hazard events at source. However, the impact can be reduced significantly by preventing them from turning into disasters. The impact of disasters can vary depending on the capacity to handle the situation;and the capacity depends on the level of preparedness and mitigation measures taken in advance. Japan has set example for the rest of the world when it comes to Disaster Risk Management (DRM). Recovery and reconstruction after disasters are not just to develop the area as it was earlier, but it has to be taken as an opportunity for developing better than earlier, which is called as “Build Back Better”. This concept was raised by Japanese Government in UN World conference, Sendai in 2015 [1]. Dynamic, evolutionary and proactive DRM policy and plans with innovation, and the use of science and technology to find solutions, and effective implementation of the policy and plans, coupled with the culture of safety among the citizens, and the spirit of never give up “Nana KarobiYa Oki” (Seven times fall down, Eight times get up), are the unique features that every country should learn from Japan’s DRM mechanism. This paper is an effort to buy-in the good practices from Japan to improve DRM system in Nepal. It is a product of three-month intensive research in the University of Tokyo under a PhD research that consisted of reviewing existing DRM documents and several interactive meetings with stakeholders in Japan.

Climate Change Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Assessment Using Remote Sensing Technology and Adaptation Strategies for Resiliency and Disaster Risk Management in Selected Coastal Municipalities of Zambales, Philippines

The Philippines is one of the most hazard prone and vulnerable countries in the world to climate change effects due to its geographical location. Climate change is already happening and affecting many places causing huge problems to coastal ecosystems. Vulnerability and disaster assessment and mapping in coastal areas are essential tasks and undertakings for coastal disaster risk management. The objectives of this study were to assess the climate change vulnerability and disaster risks in the four municipalities (Sta. Cruz, Candelaria, Masinloc and Palauig) of Zambales and to determine the climate change community-based adaptation (CBA) and ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) strategies. Remote sensing, GIS, secondary data gathering and key informant interview were used to assess vulnerability and disaster risks and mapping in the four municipalities. Survey questionnaire, focus group discussion and key informant interview were utilized in gathering data for the determination of climate change adaptation strategies. Using remote sensing technology, it was revealed that coastline changes have occurred in the shorelines of the four coastal municipalities after a decade. Sea level rise happened in Sta. Cruz and Masinloc, Zambales while there was build-up of soil in the coastline of Candelaria and Palauig, Zambales. Twelve hazard maps, 12 vulnerability maps and 12 disaster risk maps were generated for the three major disasters (flood, landslide, storm surge) in the four coastal municipalities. Based on the flood vulnerability and disaster risk assessment, the municipality of Palauig was found to be the most prone to flooding while the municipality of Candelaria was found to be the most vulnerable to landslide compared to other municipalities. All coastal barangays in the four municipalities were susceptible to storm surge. The four coastal municipalities were conducting community-based adaptation (CBA) and ecosystem-based adaptation (EBA) approaches in order to protect their coastal resources from the damaging impacts of climate change and improve the resilience of their local communities.

Seismic Risk Assessment and Disaster Management

After a brief introduction of the framework of seismic risk assessment (SRA), the current state of SRA in China is presented in five parts: the vulnerability assessment of structures, SRA methodology, earthquake loss estimation, disaster management and laws, and geographical information system (GIS), with emphasis on current Chinese practice. The vulnerability matrices used are mostly from recent earthquake experiences in China, such as the 1985 Haicheng Earthquake and the 1986 Tangshen Earthquake, especially for structures such as the adobe and unreinforced masonry buildings. For SRA, different requirements are required for different scales of exposures, e.g., global scale, regional scale, city scale, and individual scale. Simple and average conditions are used for exposure estimation and seismic hazard assessment (SHA) for the global scale, and very specific and detailed conditions for the individual scale, such as for a specific engineering project. In China, there are some standardized requirements for SHA and SRA in addition to seismic design codes, which are followed.

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: Recalling the Need for Paradigm Shift in Definition

The paper articulates the need for a paradigm shift in defining the basis of what constitutes a disaster. This new framework must be sensitive to the need for a more theoretical approach to inform disaster and hazard management. Central to this is that the resulting approach cannot be muddled in linear rational and procedural doctrines but appreciate the dynamics of complex nonlinearity of disaster events. By engaging in thought experiment and critical analysis of existing literature, the paper deconstructs the normative paradigm of defining disaster. The end is to inform disaster management and risk reduction intervention and mitigation programmes. The presented alternative approach is sensitive of the need to equally include;spatial, political, social, parameters. These are appreciated as being equally important as those dealing with ecological and economic. The resulting not only include other elements, but also expands the definition to the complex conditions inherent in the origin of phenomena to the interaction of the phenomena with multiple and complex socio-spatial and demographic dynamics, and then appreciating the complex results of this nonlinear interaction. The need for a more substantive definition of disaster underlines the pre-analysis that is necessary for implementation of mitigation and prevention strategies. That disasters are becoming more complex is synonymous with the complexities inherent in post-war development dynamics.

Exploring factors of disaster preparedness in UNESCO-designated heritage sites

Increased hazards threatening the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO)-designated sites and endangering cultural heritage and community well-being require attention and action.Con-sidering the pivotal role of UNESCO sites in conservation and development,this study assessed their levels of disaster preparedness.The absence of studies assessing disaster awareness,risk perception,and preparedness among UNESCO site actors,as well as the pivotal place of preparedness within the Disaster Risk Management(DRM)cycle justifies this research.Applying the tenets of the Person-Relative-to-Event framework,we hypothe-sized that a strong positive correlation exists between perceived risks,resources,and disaster preparedness.To collect pertinent data,we employed an embedded mixed-method design and conducted an online questionnaire survey yielding 141 responses from 59 countries.From the results of relevant analyses,wildfires,floods,and droughts are top hazards occurring frequently in UNESCO sites,with significant concerns about pollution and habitat loss during future events.Smartphones emerged as the most available crucial DRM resource,with higher availability of DRM resources correlating positively and significantly with sites’preparedness.Our findings con-tribute valuable insights to address missing links for disaster-ready and resilient UNESCO sites,promoting their preservation for future generations.

Beyond Defense: Proactive Approaches to Disaster Recovery and Threat Intelligence in Modern Enterprises

As cyber threats keep changing and business environments adapt, a comprehensive approach to disaster recovery involves more than just defensive measures. This research delves deep into the strategies required to respond to threats and anticipate and mitigate them proactively. Beginning with understanding the critical need for a layered defense and the intricacies of the attacker’s journey, the research offers insights into specialized defense techniques, emphasizing the importance of timely and strategic responses during incidents. Risk management is brought to the forefront, underscoring businesses’ need to adopt mature risk assessment practices and understand the potential risk impact areas. Additionally, the value of threat intelligence is explored, shedding light on the importance of active engagement within sharing communities and the vigilant observation of adversary motivations. “Beyond Defense: Proactive Approaches to Disaster Recovery and Threat Intelligence in Modern Enterprises” is a comprehensive guide for organizations aiming to fortify their cybersecurity posture, marrying best practices in proactive and reactive measures in the ever-challenging digital realm.

Building Resilience Through Disaster Waste Management——UN Environment's Experiences and Approaches

Integrating disaster waste issue is a critical component of making humanitarian action fit for the future,anticipating global risks and challenges such as increased vulnerability due to climate change and environmental degradation.This requires a fundamental shift towards a model that not only strengthens the response to crises but also learns and adapts in order to anticipate and act before such waste garnered.This article conducted analyses on the characteristics of disasters in the past two decades.Uncertainties confound disaster waste management,including the timing and magnitude of each disaster,and the amounts and types of waste that will be generated.For these reasons alone,disaster waste management must be an integral part of development planning and processes.Making 10 years since the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake,this article highlights that disaster waste management is not only debris clearance or waste management following a disaster,but also includes prevention and pre-disaster preparedness aspects in terms of enhancing resilience of local communities.Such"mainstreaming,"ensures that disaster waste management(DWM)will be treated as a priority issue,on an ongoing basis.Based on UN Environment's experiences and approaches,this paper emphasises that preparedness is the key,and that priority should be accorded to integrating disaster contingency planning in national and city level waste management strategies as well as mainstreaming waste management issues within broader disaster preparedness and response plans and actions.It is envisaged that the issues presented and the gaps identified in this paper will provide a basis for future comprehensive and cohesive research on disaster waste management.In turn,this research can lead to better preparedness and response on disaster waste management.

Earthquake Disaster Management and Insurance

As one of the most powerful tools to reduce the earthquake loss, the Earthquake Disaster Management [EDM] and Insurance [EI] have been highlighted and have had a great progress in many countries in recent years. Earthquake disaster management includes a series of contents, such as earthquake hazard and risk analysis, vulnerability analysis of building and infrastructure, earthquake aware training, and building the emergency response system. EI, which has been included in EDM after this practice has been...

Disaster risk reduction in mountain areas: an initial overview on seeking pathways to global sustainability

As disasters cripple the world’s prospects for sustainable development, protecting the most vulnerable groups exposed to hazards is one of the main challenges facing humanity. Owing to the systemic nature of risk and the interactions and interdependencies between upland and lowland systems, healthy and productive mountain households and livelihoods are essential to global sustainability. This paper argues that, building on existing international frameworks, and integrated knowledge and praxis, the development of a global policy agenda should be established to build sustainable peace, sustainable security, and development.

Disaster risk reduction in mountain areas: a research overview

This paper gives an account of the diverse dimensions of research on disaster risk reduction in mountain regions derived from an open call of the Journal of Mountain Science that brought 21 contributions.This special issue includes topics as diverse as landslide dynamics and mechanisms,landslide inventories and landslide susceptibility models,insights to landslide hazards and disasters and mitigation measures,disaster response and disaster risk reduction.The overall structure of the paper takes the form of three sections.The first part begins by laying out the significance of disaster risk reduction in mountain areas,whereas the second one looks at the research insights on disaster risk reduction in mountains provided by the contributions comprised in the special volume.The final section identifies areas for further research.

Global Aspects of Flood Risk Management

Various flood disasters in the last decade have confirmed that the risk from flooding has been increasing significantly worldwide. The driving factors for the risk are the unabated increase in global population, the concentration of people in high-risk areas such as coasts and flood plains, the rise in vulnerability of assets, infrastructure and social systems, and the consequences of climate change. Risk reduction is based on comprehensive risk management from identification of the hazard and assessing the risk to building defenses. To achieve this, general awareness at all levels in a society is key. It is not sufficient merely to be aware of the situation-findings must be acted upon with no significant delay. Flood-related computations have progressed considerably in recent years, but model results can only be as good as their input data. Modeling floods and flood losses is very complex, as model parameters are subject to change during an event and conditions sometimes greatly depend on small-scale factors.

Community Based Flood Risk Management: Local Knowledge and Actor’s Involvement Approach from Lower Karnali River Basin of Nepal

Connecting to the disaster risk reduction (DRR) studies, community-based initiatives are found to be more effective in both developed and developing countries, with a specific focus on the empowerment of local communities to build resilience. Building on social capital theory, the paper investigates on local knowledge (LK) practices experienced by the actors in an emerging economy using the community-based flood risk management (CB-FRM) approach. The qualitative research method was used by collecting data from focused group discussions, and interviews with the key informants including actors from local governments and non-government organizations. Additionally, informal discussions, field visits, and desk studies were undertaken to support the findings. The findings reveal that the local communities carry out various local knowledge experiences to respond during disaster management phases. They own a creative set of approaches based on the LK and that empowers them to live in the flood-prone areas, accepting the paradigm shift from fighting with floods to living with that. The local actor’s involvement is recognized as an essential component for CB-FRM activities. Yet, their program’s implementation is more oriented towards humanitarian assistance in emergency responses. Even, they often overlook the role of LK. Additionally, the results show a high level of presence of local communities during the preparedness and recovery phases, while NGOs and local governments have a medium role in preparedness and low in recovery phase. The lack of local ownership has also emerged as the major challenge. The research provides valuable insights for integrated CB-FRM policies by adopting to LK practices.

Integrated Disaster Risk Management(IDRM):Elements to Advance Its Study and Assessment

This study analyzed the international key literature on integrated disaster risk management(IDRM),considering it a dynamic sociocultural process subjected to the historical process of social formation,offering a closer look at the concept while exploring conceptual elements and ideas to advance IDRM in both national and international contexts.Methodologically,the study adopted a literature review strategy,following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses(PRISMA)approach,combined with qualitative content analysis.This article examines the history of IDRM,discusses current challenges for implementation,looks at some experiences,and proposes avenues for further research.Some findings point out the lack of an overarching IDRM approach,which is characterized by a rather disperse set of ideas and experiences concerning what IDRM is and how it should be operationalized,thereby revealing the need for a more comprehensive theory and methodologies to further advance it.Other findings highlight that IDRM encompasses different kinds and levels of"integrations"that go from internal(that is,disaster risk reduction and management domains)to external(that is,all societal processes such as sustainable development),including temporal and spatial integrations.Hence,we are talking about a multidimensional integration of disaster risk management.In this regard,the article proposes four dimensions for integration:sectoral,spatial/hierarchical,temporal,and externally with other cross-cutting societal challenges,especially climate change and sustainable development.These dimensions cover 29 ideas for indicators or"proto-indicators"to guide the discussion,exploration,and analysis of IDRM in specific contexts.

Mainstreaming Decentralization and Collaboration in Disaster Risk Management:Insights from Coastal Bangladesh

Bangladesh is renowned in disaster risk reduction(DRR)for active involvement of community people and local disaster management institutions in DRR activities.Our study aimed to describe the disaster risk management(DRM)institutions and assess their functioning in six coastal unions across the three coastal zones of Bangladesh.Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used.The study focused on two key local institutions—the Union Disaster Management Committees(UDMCs)and the Cyclone Preparedness Program(CPP)—functioning at the union level in DRM.Such institutions have both horizontal and vertical collaborations with other institutions.However,we argue that the UDMCs'external dependencies in their functioning indicate their limited financial and administrative autonomy,which is a barrier to successfully institutionalizing disaster management.The results show that the CPP is the most successful program,markedly increasing the trust of the people in warning dissemination and evacuation efforts in the event of a cyclone.Although the adoption of decentralized risk management systems has resulted in significant progress in increased rate of evacuation and reduced death rate and damage,lack of funding and equipment,limited coordination between institutions,lack of skilled and knowledgeable workforce,and inappropriate power structures may reduce the effectiveness of DRR activities prior to,during,and following disasters.

How Can Practitioners Support Citizen Volunteers in Disaster Risk Reduction?Insight from“Good and Ready”in Aotearoa New Zealand

Global and national policy frameworks emphasize the importance of people's participation and volunteers'role in disaster risk reduction.While research has extensively focused on volunteers in disaster response and recovery,less attention has been paid on how organizations involved in disaster risk management can support volunteers in leading and coordinating communitybased disaster risk reduction.In 2019,the New Zealand Red Cross piloted the Good and Ready initiative in Auckland,Aotearoa New Zealand,with the objective to empower local people in resilience building with a focus on volunteers and community participation.This research examined the positive and negative outcomes of Good and Ready and investigated volunteers'experiences in the disaster resilience initiative.It involved the codesign of a questionnaire-based survey using participatory methods with Good and Ready volunteers,the dissemination of the survey to gather volunteers'viewpoints,and a focus group discussion with participatory activities with Red Cross volunteers.The findings highlight that a key challenge lies in finding a balance between a program that provides flexibility to address contextual issues and fosters communities'ownership,versus a prescriptive and standardized approach that leaves little room for creativity and self-initiative.It pinpoints that supporting volunteers with technical training is critical but that soft skills training such as coordinating,communicating,or facilitating activities at the local level are needed.It concludes that the sustainability of Good and Ready requires understanding and meeting volunteers'motivations and expectations and that enhancing partnerships with local emergency management agencies would strengthen the program.

Areas vulnerable to natural disasters and damage estimation of infrastructure in Busan, Korea

Since the damages caused by disasters associated with climate anomalies and the diversification of the social structure increase every year, an efficient management system associated with a damage assessment of the areas vulnerable to disasters is demanded to prevent or mitigate the damages to infrastructure. The areas vulnerable to disasters in Busan, located at southeastern part of Korea, were estimated based on historical records of damages and a risk assessment of the infrastructure was performed to provide fundamental information prior to the establishment of the real-time monitoring system for infrastructure and establish disaster management system. The results are illustrated by using geographical information system(GIS) and provide the importance of the roadmap for comprehensive and specific strategy to manage natural disasters.