2019 Risk Award “Coastal resilience” – Call for proposals

DRM in the face of environmental changes, population growth and urban development

Adaptation to environmental changes becomes more and more important. Also, because climate change is a fact. Island states belong to the top-priority countries at risk in most parts of the world. Along with the other coastal areas, they are exposed to a number of risks. Extreme storms, erosion, sea level rise and further environmental changes are just a few examples. What are the most useful approaches to build resilience? Which innovative ideas can help reduce risks?

Today, around 40% of the world’s population live in coastal areas (defined as living within a distance of 100 kilometres off the geographical coastline). The number of exposed people is growing fast. Besides the stressors mentioned above other challenges exist, e.g. sedimentation or degradation of coral reefs or beaches, and soil salinization. Further, we even observe the removal of reefs for mining construction materials or to create space for infrastructures such as piers, harbours or settlements.

The combination of rising sea levels, more weather extremes, population growth and ecological degradation will inevitably increase risk – for ecosystems, assets, lives and livelihoods. States, communities and people at risk must act early to align environmentally and human induced developments with sustainability goals in order to keep risks within reasonable and manageable limits.

The 2019 RISK Award will fund a project, dedicated to improve risk reduction, risk management or adaptive capacities in regards to the special situation in coastal areas. Projects may include eco-system services or infrastructural approaches, capacity building or awareness raising measures, risk-sensitive land use planning, building codes and many more. The alignment of the project to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction will also be assessed. 

We invite all stakeholders involved — be it NGOs, NPOs, academia, associations, communities, political bodies or others — to forward their ideas and applications. The RISK Award is endowed with USD 100.000 project funding. To apply, please use the following link. No other formats will be accepted.  

Dates and deadlines

• Application phase: 1 September 2018 to 30 November 2018
• Last call for applications: 22 November 2018 at the Global Risk Forum Davos
• Individual notification of application status: 1 March 2019
• 2019 RISK Award ceremony — Official announcement of the winning project: May 2019 at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)