Resilience“G-Science” academies call for strengthening global disaster resilience

Published 27 April 2016

In the decade between 2005 and 2014, more than 6,000 natural and technological disasters occurred around the world, killing more than 0.8 million people, displacing millions more, and costing more than $1 trillion. Losses due to disasters are increasing in both developed and developing countries. Human factors that increase exposure and vulnerability, such as poverty, rapid population growth, disorderly urbanization, corruption, conflict and changes in land use, poor infrastructure including non-engineered housing, together with effects of climate change on weather patterns with increased extreme events, aggravate the negative consequences of natural and technological hazards.

One of fourteen science academies calling for increased resilience planning // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Last week the science academies of the G7 countries and seven additional academies issued three joint statements to their respective governments to inform discussions during the G7 summit to be held in May in Japan, as well as ongoing policymaking. The “G-Science” statements — on disaster resilience, brain science, and nurturing future scientists — were drawn up by the academies under the aegis of the Science Council of Japan. The participants were academies from Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the regional African Academy of Sciences.

The academies called for strategies to understand and protect the brain, strengthen global resilience to disasters, and develop future generations of scientists.

The G-Sciences statement made important points about the need to strengthen resilience.

In the decade between 2005 and 2014, more than 6,000 natural and technological disasters occurred around the world, killing more than 0.8 million people, displacing millions more, and costing more than $1 trillion. Losses due to disasters are increasing in both developed and developing countries. Human factors that increase exposure and vulnerability, such as poverty, rapid population growth, disorderly urbanization, corruption, conflict and changes in land use, poor infrastructure including non-engineered housing, together with effects of climate change on weather patterns with increased extreme events, aggravate the negative consequences of natural and technological hazards. Disasters derail sustainable development, particularly in developing countries. Consequently, the need to embed disaster risk reduction into sustainable development goals is paramount.

In the globalized twenty-first century, a disaster in one country creates disruptions in others: the 2011 Thailand floods cut off car component factories and adversely affected car production in Europe; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami inundating the beaches of Thailand and killing more than 5,000 people including tourists caused the largest numbers of deaths from a natural hazard in Sweden’s history; the 2006 drought in Syria was one of several contributing conditions that led to the current humanitarian crisis; and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 led to a tsunami, a nuclear facility malfunction, and economic effects worldwide. International events like these show the connection between disaster resilience and sustainable  development.