Building scientific capacity in disaster risk reduction for sustainable development

Abstract

As climate warming intensifies, the frequency and intensity of disasters are also increasing, posing challenges to global sustainable development. The concept of disaster risk reduction (DRR) provides strong impetus for reducing disaster risk and vulnerabilities by employing the scientific and technological developments of recent decades. However, there is a need to enhance the capacities of different communities to use emerging digital infrastructure, not only in promoting DRR but also in ensuring sustainable future development. Limited access to and availability of data are restricting comprehensive understanding of these challenges. In many countries, the key areas for capacity development include collecting information from alternative and emerging data sources and meaningfully integrating it with data from traditional sources. Software and data analysis are becoming widely accessible due to open-source initiatives, while cloud computing technologies and programmes such as CASEarth provide valuable resources for multisource data integration, contributing to information-driven policy and decision-support systems for DRR.