International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

^{Image: Matt Palmer/Unsplash}

Today is the UN International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, an opportunity to acknowledge the progress being made towards reducing disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health.

To mark the day, the Society’s Disaster Risk Management Professional Practice Group (DRM PPG) interviewed Jenty Kirsch-Wood, Head of Global Risk Management and Reporting at the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The discussion covered the UN’s role in increasing disaster resilience, the impact of climate change on disaster risk reduction, and the skills geographers bring to communicating and combatting disaster risk.

With this year’s theme for International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction focusing on international cooperation, Jenty highlighted the disproportionate impact of disasters on the most vulnerable, and the need for collaboration and capacity building to meet the growing and unequal impacts of climate change.

She said: “We are at a crossroads. Impacts of the climate emergency are increasingly affecting all nations and exacerbating inequalities, eroding resilience and rapidly rewriting the global resource map. Geographers can help accelerate action, both on the technical and social side of this challenge - helping identify innovative solutions, monitoring progress and improving the development of consultation methods to makes sure that communities are involved.”

Read the blog

Find out more about the DRM PPG, see recordings of their recent events, and learn more about the work of the UNDDR.