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Systemic risk

Systems can be affected by critical events or shocks that occur outside or within the system. Systemic risk is associated with cascading impacts that spread within and across systems and sectors via the movements of people, goods, capital and information within and across boundaries. The spread of cascading impacts can lead to potentially existential consequences and system collapse across a range of time horizons.

A drought thousands of miles away might seem distant—but its effects can reach your doorstep.
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Latest Systemic Risk additions in the Knowledge Base

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Blog
Sarah Hendel-Blackford
Changing the principles that guide how we assess and respond to systemic risks: Learning from pilots
What values do you apply in daily life that guide your actions? Whether implicit or explicit, many of us have a set of values, beliefs or principles for how we lead our lives.
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Documents and publications
Polycrisis and systemic risk: assessment, governance, and communication

This review examines the concepts of polycrisis and systemic risks, highlighting their commonalities and differences, and discussing their implications for risk assessment, governance, and communication.

Springer Nature
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Documents and publications
Critical responses to global systemic risk in an era of polycrisis

This paper highlights the escalating complexity of global risk in the context of a polycrisis—a convergence of interconnected crises that simultaneously unfold and amplify one another in unpredictable ways.

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science
Update
Crisis Mini-Games

In these five-minute mini-games, players analyze and discuss factors influencing resource allocation in large-scale crises.

New York Academy of Sciences, the
Case study
India
Community Action Collab: Building resilience in India
The Community Action Collab (CAC) evolved from the COVID Action Collab-an all-India collaborative incubated by Bangalore-based, Catalyst Management Services, that served as an interface between communities and service providers during the pandemic.
  • Accelerating systemic risk assessment (ASRA)
Research briefs
How infrastucture failures affect community’s disaster resilience

The interdependencies of infrastructure systems mean that the impact of a disaster on one system can have far-reaching effects on others and the communities they serve, potentially causing "functional isolation".

Climate Adaptation Platform (CAP)
View of a hospital hall in Hyderabad, India
Update
Extreme heat, hospital crowding, and the hidden health costs of climate change

This column considers extreme heat as not only a direct health threat, but also a systems-level shock that will expose and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities in healthcare delivery.

VOXEU/ CEPR
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Documents and publications
Climate change in rural landscapes – systemic solutions for a sustainable future

This factsheet examines the systemic challenges posed by climate change in rural landscapes and presents integrated solutions for climate-resilient and low-emission development.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
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