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IDDRR 2022, WRC Briefing Notes and The HuT

24 November 2022

To coincide with the 2022 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) on 13 October, UCL WRC launched a series of Warning Briefing Notes and a blog titled 'A Note of Warning'.

UCL WRC Briefing Notes Series

IDDRR 2022 and Briefing Notes series launch

Thursday 13 October was International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) 2022. This year the focus is on Target G of the Sendai Framework to: “Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030.” With the recent initiative ‘Early Warnings For All’ being led by the WMO, the global DRR community has turned its attention to the role of warnings and how to increase coverage of people by warnings, and also how to enhance these systems. Given one of the four key objectives of the UCL Warning Research Centre (WRC) is to help place warnings on the agenda as a strategy and tool in disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation as well as sustainable development, we are delighted to be in the right place at the right time, and work to bring the very best of academic research on warnings from all over the world to help inform decisions about warning practices. We are also building a global community for academics and practitioners to share best practices, and work beyond the silos of their hazards, institutions, geographies, and contexts to learn from one another, and develop multi-hazard early warning systems, one of the most complex, and wicked problems, society faces today. We have a very busy 5 years ahead as the Early Warnings For All programme is put in place and look forward to our future discussions.

To celebrate the focus on warnings for IDDRR 2022 we launch our Warnings Briefing Notes series, supported by the Global Disaster Preparedness Centre (GDPC) and Anticipation Hub. These two-page documents are designed to provide a quick and accessible insight into various aspects of warnings, providing the state of the art of research, core needs, and high-level guidance and recommendations. These notes also provide a core case study, and graphics to help illustrate the key issues, alongside recommended sources for additional information. We are launching the first Warnings Briefing Notes today, and a series of notes will be launched in the run up to COP27 to provide further information about the various aspects of warnings.

WRC Blog: 'A Note of Warning'

In addition, we’ve launched our WRC Blog ‘A Note of Warning’ where we will be publishing up to date comments and reflections from our members and affiliates from all over the globe, and for all hazards, risks, and vulnerabilities. Whilst we have included a number of recent articles published elsewhere, our first blog focuses on the IDDRR by exploring ‘The Nirvana of Multi-Hazard Warnings’ that explores the ability to develop and implement multi hazard early warning systems. In addition, we have updated our website with more information about the core WRC team, and our publications and outputs.
 
We are delighted to be working with so many in relation to warnings, just one year after our launch. We are currently working with the World Bank GFDRR, UNDRR, and Global Disaster Preparedness Centre on how to enhance inclusivity in warnings, and put warnings into actions. We sit on several working groups within REAP, and with the Anticipation Hub, Defra in the UK, and the charity ALLFED.

The HuT

After many months of rather anxious waiting, we can now officially announce that the UCL WRC has been successful in obtaining funding under the EU Horizon Call - Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction for extreme climate events: from early warning systems to long term adaptation and resilience building for the project 'The HuT (Human-Tech nexus): Building a safe haven for coping with climate extremes’. With a total budget of EU6M the WRC will be heading up Work Package 2 as Co-I’s focused on 'Human behaviours’, and also in the WP6 'Communication, dissemination and exploitation’. In a timely manner both Ilan and Carina travelled to Italy during IDDRR as part of the kick off meeting.

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