Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR)
Background | Programme Summary | Scientific Committee | Resources | Contact

Latest news Agreement on disaster research programme signed in Beijing 08 Mar 2010 A Letter of Cooperation to establish the International Programme Office of the new Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme has been signed by the programme’s sponsors and Chinese counterparts. The IRDR co-sponsors—ICSU, the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR)—signed the agreement in Beijing in February. The agreement recognizes the establishment of the programme office and the resources that will be devoted to it. The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)—an ICSU National Member—will provide annual financial support to the office for ten years. The office will be located in the new headquarters of the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth (CEODE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), situated on the edge of Beijing. An announcement on the appointment of the Executive Director of IRDR is expected shortly.
		Science Plan for IRDR

Dr Jiansheng Zhang, CAST, and Deliang Chen, ICSU	IRDR sponsors and hosts

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Background

The ICSU Strategic Plan 2006–2011 identifies natural and human-induced hazards as one of the major research-led issues for ICSU over the planning period. This grows out of long ICSU engagement in hazards initiatives, including the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. The PAA on Environment and its relation to sustainable development (December 2003) saw hazards as a priority area for ICSU, and this was reiterated in the CSPR report on Foresight analysis (July 2004).

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami clearly attracted worldwide attention and pushed the issue up the agenda. On 13 January 2005, ahead of the Kobe World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, the Executive Board issued a statement on the tsunami identifying both urgent and long-term needs and stressing the importance of bringing good science to bear effectively on policy-making (see ICSU Insight January 2005).

At its meeting in April 2005, the Executive Board gave the go-ahead for a scoping study on hazards, which was reported to the General Assembly in October 2005. A Planning Group was established to develop the details of the new programme and propose how it might be implemented. The planning and consultation process for this programme was extensive, in recognition of the need for the widest interaction and debate among potential partners and sponsors. At key stages in the development, the advice and guidance of the ICSU family was sought.

The final report from the Planning Group, A Science Plan for Integrated Research on Disaster Risk – Addressing the challenge of natural and human-induced environmental hazards, was published in August 2008.

Delegates at the 29th ICSU General Assembly in Maputo, Mozambique (October 2008) decided to 'establish a major new interdisciplinary programme of ten years' duration entitled Integrated Research on Disaster Risk – the challenge of natural and human–induced environmental hazards (acronym: IRDR), in collaboration with other international organizations', and 'to recognize IRDR as an Interdisciplinary Body'.

• Press release from 29th ICSU General Assembly

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Programme summary

There are three major research objectives:

1. to address the gaps in knowledge and methods for the effective identification of disaster risks;
2. to better understand just how decisions can contribute to hazards becoming disasters – or reduce their effects; and,
3. to develop knowledge-based actions that will reduce risk and curb losses.

Three cross-cutting themes will support the objectives:  capacity building, including mapping capacity for disaster reduction and building self-sustaining capacity at various levels for different hazards; the development of case studies and demonstration projects; and assessment, data management and monitoring of hazards, risks and disasters.

An important element of the programme is the development of case studies that will analyse disasters caused by natural phenomena to establish what was done well and what caused failure – to avoid repeating mistakes.

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Scientific Committee

Chair: McBean, Gordon (Canada)

Members:

• Cardona, Omar Darío (Colombia)
• Chan Kin Sek, Raymond (China)
• Cutter, Susan (USA)
• Eiser, Richard (United Kingdom)
• Johston, David (New Zealand)
• Lang, Michel (France)
• Lavell, Allan (Costa Rica)
• Modaressi, Hormoz (France)
• Patek, Maria (Austria)
• Renn, Ortwin (Germany)
• Sparks, Steven (United Kingdom)
• Suhrke, Astri (Norway)
• Takeuchi, Kuniyoshi (Japan)
• Vogel, Coleen (South Africa)
• Wirtz, Angelika (Germany)

Ex-officio members:

• Basher, Reid (UN ISDR)
• Hackmann, Heide (ISSC)
• Moore, Howard (ICSU)

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Resources

• A Science Plan for Integrated Research on Disaster Risk
  • Full report
  • Executive Summary
• Statement by Gordon McBean at the Second Session of the Global Platform on Disaster Reduction (June 2009)

Contact:

Howard Moore
ICSU Senior Advisor
howardicsu.org