Integrated Research on Disaster Risk

Mission

An integrated research programme co-sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction (UNDRR), IRDR fosters a global, multi-disciplinary approach to dealing with the challenges brought by natural disasters, mitigating their impacts, and improving related policy-making mechanisms. IRDR is hosted by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The IRDR Programme has three research objectives, the first of which deals with the characterization of hazards, vulnerability, and risk. The identification and assessment of risks from natural hazards on global, regional, and local scales, and the development of the capability to forecast hazardous events and their consequences is, of necessity, interdisciplinary. Understanding of the natural processes and human activities that contribute to vulnerability and community resilience should be integrated to reduce risk. This objective addresses the gaps in knowledge, methodologies, and types of information that are preventing the effective application of science to averting disasters and reducing risk.

The second research objective involves understanding decision-making in complex and changing risk contexts. Understanding effective decision-making in the context of risk management—what is it and how it can be improved—calls for an emphasis on how human decisions and the pragmatic factors that constrain or facilitate such decisions can contribute to hazards becoming disasters and/or may mitigate their effects.

The third research objective, on reducing risk and curbing losses through knowledge-based actions, requires integration of outputs from the first two objectives and can only be achieved through implementing and monitoring informed risk reduction decisions and through reductions in vulnerability or exposure. Processes of human adjustment or adaptation can be used to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience.