Disaster Risk

The European Climate Data Explorer is a graphical user interface on Climate-ADAPT that provides interactive access to many climate indices from the Climate Data Store of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Doing so, it makes the broad range of relevant data and information in the C3S Climate Data Store available to policymakers and other stakeholders without the technical expertise needed to navigate the C3S Climate Data Store.

The current version of the European Climate Data Explorer already includes several climate indices related to human health. They showcase the potential of cooperation between the EEA and C3S in providing quality-controlled information that is relevant for the users of the European Climate and Health Observatory.

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This report is a Supplement to the UNDRR-ISC Hazard Definition and Classification Review - Technical report released in July 2020. Aligned with the list of hazards published in the Technical Report, this Supplement comprises of a description of each of the 302 hazard information profiles (HIPs), developed using a consultative process by scientists and experts across the globe.

Responding to increasing calls for ‘a data revolution, rigorous accountability mechanisms and renewed global partnerships’, the UNDRR-ISC Hazard Definition and Classification Review - Technical report and its Supplement provide an important resource to support the implementation of disaster risk reduction and risk-informed investment, aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, but also the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Sustainable Financing. It provides a common set of hazard definitions to Governments and stakeholders to inform their strategies and actions on risk reduction and management. Specifically, the report and this supplement could support the development and updating of national and local disaster risk reduction strategies and loss databases, as well as integrating disaster risk reduction into national statistics, legal, accounting and regulatory frameworks and public and private policy, financing and investment decisions.

LINK: https://www.undrr.org/publication/hazard-information-profiles-supplement-undrr-isc-hazard-definition-classification

Climate change is happening and we need to get ready for more intense heatwaves, floods and storms, wildfires and water scarcity. Different climate-related hazards affect regions, sectors of the economy and members of society in different ways. Decision-makers need the best data and information to help them understand the imperatives and make the necessary preparations — adapted to the different scenarios and likely consequences, at European, national and sub-national levels. Europe’s changing climate hazards, an interactive index-based EEA report, brings it all together with an overview of past and projected changes in Europe’s most important climate hazards.

LINK: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europes-changing-climate-hazards/climate-hazards-indices

The Commission just published the Decision ((EU) 2021/1956) to establish the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network, with a strong Science Pillar, clearly referencing the DRMKC. This is a major step in the science-policy interface in the DRM domain. It is also an example of how a JRC Knowledge Centre can “mature” into a more stable and long-term initiative built-in in legislation.

Three upcoming events will now prepare the launch of the Network: the 5th DRMKC Annual Seminar (17-18 November), the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (24-26 Nov), and then the Knowledge Network Day (7 Dec). 

LINK: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D1956

The Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network Day will take place as an online event on 7 December 2021. A recent EU flagship initiative in civil protection and disaster management, the Knowledge Network brings together experts and organisations to increase knowledge and its dissemination within the Union Civil Protection Mechanism through networking, partnerships, collaborative opportunities, training and learning, and access to expertise and good practices.

The aim of the Knowledge Network Day is to introduce the Knowledge Network and highlight its vision, mission and activities as well as its tangible contribution to more effective disaster management under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.  The day includes a high-level session during which European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič will launch officially the Knowledge Network joined by a panel of prominent decision-makers in disaster management. 

In the afternoon, two consecutive working-level sessions featuring experts, researchers, first responders, scientists and volunteers will discuss issues that are central to the Knowledge Network’s mandate and activities framework.

LINK: https://civil-protection-knowledge-network.europa.eu/

Scheduled on 26th November from 10:30 to 11:30, this side event organized by the European Commission (DG HOME, ECHO and JRC) will be held in a hybrid format and will be featured virtually. It will highlight on-going research and networking activities in direct support of the Sendai Framework for Action implementation. Commission officials will present briefly institutional activities (research, knowledge network) and different features of Disaster Risk Reduction policies will be presented and discussed by representatives of academic, practitioners, policy-making and industry representatives. Details of the programme available here. 

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From Tuesday the 26th till Friday the 29th of October 2021 the 70th anniversary will be celebrated with research seminars, invited speakers and a diverse range of activities. An exciting mix of live and online sessions has been planned to discuss the topic of disaster resilience. Keynote sessions will be live and are available to watch online.Three themes will be highlighted during the week: 1) Bio-diversity and Food Security (Tuesday, October 26th); Geo-Health (Wednesday, October 27th); Hazard Risk & Resilience (Thursday, October 28th).

The session on Thursday 28 October will focus on disaster resilience in practice and gender equality, diversity and inclusion in support to resilience. The final session of the day will be dedicated to the inauguration of the UT-ITC centre for disaster resilience. DRMKC will contribute to the session on gender equality in DRM with an intervention of Alessandra Zampieri, head of the "Disaster Risk Management" Unit of the Joint Research Centre. 

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The European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service supports the national authorities with complementary flood forecast information. On 9 and 10 July, the EFAS forecasts started indicating a high probability of flooding for the Rhine River basin, affecting Switzerland and Germany. Subsequent forecasts also predicted a high risk of flooding in the Meuse river basin affecting in particular Belgium and EFAS sent more than 25 notifications for specific regions of the Rhine and Meuse in the following days until 14 July. On 13 July, the CEMS Rapid Mapping component was activated to start mapping floods in parts of Western Germany. On 14 July the Belgian authorities requested the activation of the CEMS Rapid Mapping Component and subsequently on 16 July also the Dutch authorities requested the mapping of an affected area. In total 27 flood monitoring maps were delivered for Germany, 4 for Belgium and 1 for the Netherlands. More details on the flood monitoring maps can be found in the EMS Information bulletin n. 144. The EFAS forecasts for the event in July are publicly accessible on the EFAS map viewer https://www.efas.eu/efas_frontend/#/home

LINKS:
EMS Information bulletin n. 144
https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/ems/copernicus-emergency-management-service-forecasts-notifies-and-monitors-devastating-floods

The dramatic flooding event that occurred in Germany and Belgium on the 15-16 July 2021, affecting also neighbouring countries, has highlighted a clear gap between available scientific information and impact forecasting tools and the timely communication and consideration of related warnings by local authorities, which resulted in an insufficient capacity to evacuate people at risk. This gap sadly reflects the insufficient understanding by local authorities and populations of risk exposure for this type of extreme events (exacerbated by climate change), as well as a lack of clear governance mechanism to react to sudden extreme events. This requires a cross-sectoral, cross-border, cross-disciplines integrated approach as well as a full risk awareness at all levels, including by citizens. 

In this respect, based on recommendations made by civil protection experts, policy-makers and the scientific community, the Horizon Europe Cluster 3 Disaster-Resilience Societies for Europe thematic area (DRS) has issued several topics on integrated disaster risk reduction (DRR) aspects. These topics recognise that, besides modelling and impact forecasting tools available to date, space-based applications have a strong role to play in DRR, for instance for tracking the evolution of forest fires or convective clouds precursors of flash floods. Within the 2021 Horizon Europe call, four DRS topics therefore indicate that “if projects use satellite-based, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, they must make use of Galileo/EGNO, as well as other data and services, while the use of Copernicus for earth observation is encouraged”. In this regard, and in order to clarify and facilitate interactions among the DRR and spatial communities, the workshop (organised in the framework of the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security, CERIS) has highlighted relevant DRS topics with possible spatial components, inviting experts to express their view about the scope of the research actions and their links to space-based applications. 

The event gathered more than 150 participants around presentations made about the Horizon Europe DRS topics with potential spatial applications, introductory views about Copernicus from a first responder, service-oriented views by “Be-Alert” and “Predict” representatives, examples of spatial applications related to disaster risk reduction and views from ANYWHERE, a H2020 project dealing with impact forecasting of extreme flood events.

LINKS:
Relevant information about the workshop and related presentations, as well as other activities in the context of EU security research can be found on https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/CERIS  

Please hashtag us with #CERIS and #EUSecurityResearch

Working with the Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC) and the Cooperation Network for Risk, Safety & Security Studies (CONRIS Network), the Department for Disaster and Emergency Management at Coventry University, UK, will host a series of 12 online Disaster Risk Management Training seminars. Running between September 2021 and April 2022 these open-access sessions provide students studying disaster risk management with international, evidence-based knowledge about state-of-the-art practice, contributing to the quality of DRM provision. 
 
Throughout this series, the flagship DRMKC Joint Research Centre report “Science for Disaster Risk Management 2020: acting today, protecting tomorrow” will be used as the foundation for participants to obtain further detailed knowledge. A collaborative online international learning (COIL) model will be used to facilitate the teaching and learning activities, encouraging exchange of knowledge and experience in disaster risk management to develop understanding of the factors that can enhance resilience and capacity. The use of co-design and co-creation methods will provide participants with the opportunity to consider a variety of disaster risk management tools and strategies, not only from European perspectives but reaching out further to create global context. The intention is that through taking the initiative regarding solutions to risks inherent in modern life, participants will additionally develop global citizenship skills and practices. 
 
The opening session took place on 22nd September 2021. Proceedings were successfully commenced by Dr Ian Clarke, representing the DRMKC, and the Deputy Head of Unit for Prevention and Disaster Risk Management in DG ECHO, Modris Stasuls. So far, more than 100 participants have registered for the course, including higher education students and professionals, and applications remain open to anyone who feels that they might contribute to, or benefit from, the series.

LINKS:
https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Knowledge/Learning-corner

The data show that over the 50-year period, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50% of all disasters (including technological hazards), 45% of all reported deaths and 74% of all reported economic losses at global level. 

In Europe, despite the tragedy that occurred in July, the death toll from extreme weather is generally falling because of improved early warnings and better disaster management. However, floods and storms inflicted the largest economic losses in the past 50 years in Europe, at a cost of US$ 377.5 billion and such events are still causing victims among the population. However, heatwaves had the highest human toll.

Water is the primary vehicle through which we feel the impacts of climate change. To effectively address both water and climate challenges, we must bring climate change and water to the same table – into the same conversation, tackling them as one. Therefore WMO is spearheading a new Water and Climate Coalition, a community of multi-sectoral actors, guided by high-level leadership and focused on integrated water and climate action.

LINKS:
Link to the report: https: //library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=21930

On the 29th of September, JRC organized an Ask-a-Scientist event within the pre-cop26 All4Climate initiative. The event involved scientists from the ETH Zurich, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna Pisa, the Instituto Dom Luiz at the University of Lisbon, the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, and the Justus-Liebig University of Giessen. The aim of the event was to inform and discuss the science behind climate change with the civil society, interested citizens, and young activists. It was opened by an overview of the European Climate Pact provided by Katerina Fortun from the Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Action, followed by two young Climate Ambassadors sharing their experience and motivation. During the event, four main themes were discussed:
- How we know that the Earth is getting warmer
- Climate change is anthropogenic
- Back to the future: learning from the past
- What will happen in the next 80 years

The first theme focused on how we observe and measure the state of the climate system and what can be learnt from the recent past available observations. The second one discussed the role of CO2 (and the other Green House Gases) and how to attribute current changes to human activities and emissions. During the third part of the event, a journey though the last hundreds of thousands of years was done thanks to paleo-climate reconstructions and proxies such as ice-core, tree rings, sediments, etc. This gave the opportunity to place the current changes within the Earth’s history, to appreciate how exceptional they are by looking at the last millennia, and to find analogues in eras preceding the homo sapiens evolution (that took place with atmospheric CO2 concentration levels ranging well below 400 parts per million). Finally, the last part of the event was devoted to analyzing scenarios for the coming decades assuming different socio-economic development pathways.

Following the enthusiastic feedback, it was decided to organize again a similar event in presence in 2022.

LINKS:
Link to the videorecording of the event: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/is-climate-change-really-happening-learning-from-the-past-to-look-into-the-future-2021-09-29
Link to webpage of the event: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/event/other-event/climate-change-really-happening

Summer of 2021 saw floods devastating parts of Western Europe and fires ravaging Mediterranean countries causing human, environmental and economic losses that could make recovery from the COVID-19 crisis even harder. Between 1980 and 2020, disasters caused by natural hazards alone affected nearly 50 million people in the European Union. On average, these disasters have cost the EU €12 billion a year. 

The study ‘Economics for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness’ carried out under the Union Civil Protection Merchanism (UCPM) through a collaboration of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) and the World Bank, models the potential impact of floods (based on a climate analysis through 2050) and earthquakes on Europe’s society and economy and quantify costs and benefits of investments in disaster resilience. The study consists of three reports  published this June.

As a spin-off of the study, an online training course series of three modules is taking place 1, 8 and 15 October. The three courses aim to present the findings of the study to European practitioners and experts of disaster risk management as well as European Commission staff working on DRM. 

Trainers include specialists from World Bank covering a range of fields related to economics and disaster risk management as well as other specialists from the European Commission. The first course, on 1 October, brought together more than 160 participants and provided the fundamentals of risk assessment and an overview of natural hazard risks affecting the European Union and their economic analysis. The second course, held 8 October, offered expert insights into the result of macro-economic and fiscal modelling of flood and earthquake risks on the EU economies, the possible funding gaps Europe may face and a review of disaster risk financing instruments as an opportunity to reduce impacts of disasters on people, economies, and government budgets. The last course, on 15 October, will present different types of investments available for managing different types of risks and will provide guidance on how to carry out cost-benefit analyses for both prevention and preparedness investments.

For requests/feedback/suggestions you can contact: ECHO-CP-P&P@ec.europa.eu

The Seveso III Directive is widely considered as a benchmark for industrial accidents policy and has been a role model for legislation in many countries worldwide. This is the first report under Seveso III Directive and provides a wealth of information on various implementation issues. With a total of 11 776 establishments falling within the scope of the Directive, the report finds that number of major accidents has continuously decreased to reach less than 25 per year in recent years.

The Seveso III Directive plays a a key role in steering the highly industrialised EU towards zero pollution from industrial accidents, a commitment set out in the European Green Deal and the Zero Pollution Action Plan. The Commission will work with Member States to improve compliance with the Directive, such as on assessing the risks of establishments and the consequences of accidents. It will also develop synergies between the Seveso III Directive and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, to improve prevention, preparedness and response in the event of a major industrial accident. These efforts include upcoming work to integrate the electronic Seveso Plants Retrieval System (eSPIRS) into the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System to alert operators and competent authorities if an event that could trigger a major industrial accident occurs.

Background

Major accidents involving dangerous chemicals pose a significant threat to humans and the environment. Furthermore, such accidents cause huge economic losses and disrupt sustainable growth.

The Seveso III Directive applies to over 12 000 industrial installations across the European Union and lays down rules to prevent major industrial accidents and minimize their harmful impacts on human health and the environment. Sectors like the chemical and petrochemical industry, and the fuel wholesale and storage sectors are covered by its scope. Different safety regimes apply, depending on the amount of dangerous substances present, with stricter legal requirements applying to installations handling high amounts.

LINK:
Link to the report: seveso_implementation_report.pdf (europa.eu)

ARGUS is the corporate coordination mechanism (process and procedures) of the European Commission to manage and coordinate trans-boundary / multi-sectoral crises, requiring action at European level (e.g. public health, civil protection, migration, energy, transport, environment, etc.). It supports the President, the College and the Secretary-General in their decision-making by facilitating real-time, topical and sharp information on the different vectors and drivers of an emergency. It remains in force for the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to hit Europe and the entire world.

However, recent experiences have made a number of gaps in the Commission’s overall crisis management visible. With increasing cross-border and cross-sector challenges, the role expected from the EU, and in particular from the European Commission, becomes ever more prominent.

The Secretariat-General invited all relevant Commission departments and Agencies to take part in a  joint analysis with the aim of designing and developing a common Dashboard that could serve EU crisis management communities.
Business analysis shows that a modern ARGUS should support:
- foresight, risk assessment, monitoring and early detection;
- prevention and preparedness, incl. resilience; and
- Response.

That means a Dashboard that can help to improve: 
- intelligent scenario planning in order to map, analyse and connect global trends, threats and risks; 
- cross-sectorial networks for sense-making; 
- connect-the-dots, especially in hybrid environments;
- interoperable surveillance, including through geolocation, and early warning systems and triggers at national and European levels;
- data management, scientific support, modelling, easy analysis and statistics;
- resilience of critical infrastructure, critical supply chains and products;
- emergency preparedness plans, sharing of expertise, training and exercises;
- coordination of fast and efficient action and reaction;
- strategic, early and proactive communication, EU-wide crisis communication networks to fight disinformation, provide elements for a unified voice at EU level and branding EU support.

The integrated, cross-policy, “EU crisis dashboard” should provide reliable and real-time information to ensure efficiency of decision-making.

Work is ongoing, with the commitment of colleagues in all Commission Services.

We propose a scientific officer position to perform research on climate extremes and climate services as a basis for
drought monitoring and forecasting as well as climate predictions. The selected candidate will contribute
to the mission of the Unit by focusing on resilience to and predictability of climate extremes such as
drought and heat waves at the European and global scales, a deliver scientific solutions in line with the
EU climate change adaptation and disaster risk management policy. The candidate will work in the team
responsible for the European and global drought observatories (EDO and GDO;
https://edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu ) of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service.

The successful candidate will be in charge of:
• Integrating effectively climate forecasts and predictions, at different time scales, into the
existing climate services and early warning systems of the Unit;
• Improve drought predictability by better understanding its precursors, the land-atmosphere
interaction across scales, and the teleconnection effects;
• Analyse the multi-sectorial impacts of drought and heat waves under current and future climate
conditions;
• Dissemination/publication of results both at scientific and policy-making level;
• Initiate and maintain constructive dialogue with colleagues on status and requirements of
drought forecasting and prediction;
• Report to team members and Team Leader on new modules and activities

More details on the page https://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?site=IPR&type=AX

Code: 2021-IPR-E1-FGIV-018649 - ISPRA
Title: FG IV - Scientific Project Officer in climate services
Deadline: 25/10/2021 23:59 Brussels time
Info: https://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/showprj.php?type=A&id=2069

We propose that the selected candidate will contribute to the assessment of the data and science landscape for the
development and implementation of multi-hazard risk assessments by:
• integrating information on drivers, exposure, current hotspots and future scenarios of multihazard risks,
• developing a systematic and comprehensive risk assessment capturing multiple natural hazards.
• linking disaster resilience goals and scenario building in a common framework for risk
assessment.

More details on the page https://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?type=AX&site=IPR

 
Code: 2021-IPR-E1-FGIV-018650
Title: FG IV - Scientific Project Officer - Data scientist for the DRMKC to contribute to the development and implementation of methods and guidelines for multi-hazard risk assessment
Deadline: 25/10/2021 23:59 Brussels time
Info: https://recruitment.jrc.ec.europa.eu/showprj.php?type=A&id=2070

The second annual Strategic Foresight Report, ‘The EU’s capacity and freedom to act’, presents a forward-looking and multidisciplinary perspective on important trends affecting the EU’s capacity and freedom to act in the coming decades.

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Just published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the report is based on disaster data from EM-DAT, and has been prepared with UNDRR and WHO amongst others. It is structured with sections by region around the globe, type of event, and economic vs mortality impacts. The analysis raises some important issues around:

- In a changing climate, the headline message that the number of weather-related disasters to hit the world has increased five-fold over the past 50 years

- The differences in the most impactful disaster type per region, and how best to use this insight in adapting to a changing climate

- The very positive news that Early Warning Systems appear to be working and despite the greater number of storms, floods and droughts the number of deaths has fallen sharply.

The report will be important material for the forthcoming WMO sponsored International Workshop on Loss and Damage Data and Statistics planned for the end of 2021.

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On 9 August 2021 the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) became available. It addresses the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science, and combining multiple lines of evidence from paleoclimate, observations, process understanding, and global and regional climate simulations.

In addition to the full report (more than 1000 pages), a Summary for Policymakers (SPM) is also available (39 pages), providing high-level summary of the understanding of the current state of the climate, including how it is changing and the role of human influence, and the state of knowledge about possible climate futures, climate information relevant to regions and sectors, and limiting human-induced climate change.

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