Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Risk Identification and Assessment

Capacity Development | Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction | Risk Identification and Assessment | Climate Change

Risk identification is one of five priority areas for action in the Hyogo Framework for Action, a principal vehicle for international cooperation on disaster reduction. UNDP has established a risk identification programme (GRIP - Global Risk Identification Programme) that works with international and local expert institutions and authorities in various aspects of risk and loss assessment in five areas. Project activities will be phased in over five years, with an early emphasis on capacity development:

1. Demonstrations – In a few countries, the GRIP will demonstrate that information on disaster risks and losses can be applied to improve risk management decisions and development outcomes. The specific decision contexts to be supported, such as those identified above, will be identified based on international, national and local priorities. Demonstrations will be undertaken with the explicit understanding that a multi-stakeholder client base agrees to participate and intends to use the risk analyses to inform the identified priority policies, plans and decisions. Governments and local institutions are the key partners, supported by international agencies as appropriate.

2. Capacity development – The GRIP will work to develop capacity by local partners to undertake risk assessments and apply the results. Consistent with the BCPR strategy, activities include the development and promotion of standards and the training of national actors and institutions in disaster risk analysis.

3. Enhanced global disaster loss data – The GRIP will expand and improve the evidence base on disaster-related losses. Historical loss data is necessary for risk assessment and for measuring progress towards achieving the expected outcome of the HFA – the substantial reduction of disaster losses. Work in this outcome area includes development and promotion of tools and standards for damage and loss assessment. It also promotes the systematic organization of loss data into databases for analysis and use.

4. Risk analyses for management decision-support in high-risk countries – These analyses are similar in nature and intent to the demonstrations described above. Although the degree of GRIP engagement in linking risk assessment results to decision processes will be less than in the demonstration cases, these analyses create additional opportunities to convene, facilitate and provide technical support to national crisis risk analysis exercises. As with the demonstration cases above, governments and local institutions are the key partners, supported by international agencies as appropriate.

5. Global risk update – Risk analyses generated through the GRIP will be compiled into a periodically-issued global risk update. This update, which will be widely distributed, will contribute to a common understanding of disaster risk patterns and their causes globally. With each iteration, the risk update will be increasingly based on high resolution analyses contributed by local, national and regional partners.