Understanding risk - building evidence for action: Proceedings from the 2016 UR Forum

The 2016 Understanding Risk Forum (UR2016) is the fourth biennial conference of the UR Community. Understanding Risk is a global community of experts and practitioners in the field of disaster risk identification - including risk assessment and risk communication. This publication includes the proceedings of the forum.

The document discusses recommendations on the following themes:

• Connecting for decision-making (pp. 15-44):
  • Learning to anticipate behavioural challenges in predisaster decision making;
  • The final mile: Connecting an impact-based warning service to decision-making;
  • When uncertainty is certain: Tools for improved decision-making for weather and climate;
  • Communicating for action: What’s needed?
  • Revealing the common misperceptions about El Niño and La Niña.
• Data (pp. 47-64):
  • Global school safety: Reaching for scale through innovation;
  • Breaking barriers for the common good: Open data and shared risk analysis in support of multilateral action;
  • Bridging the divide: Digital humanitarians and the Nepal earthquake.
• Modelling (pp. 67-85):
  • Reading the tea leaves: When risk models fail to predict disaster impacts;
  • Challenges in developing multihazard risk models from local to global scale;
  • Climate extremes and economic derail: Impacts of extreme weather and climate-related events on regional and national economies.
• Vulnerability and resilience (pp. 95-112):
  • Checking the vitals: Making infrastructure more resilient;
  • Putting people first: Practices, challenges, and innovations in characterising and mapping social groups;
  • How risks and shocks impact poverty - and why, when, and where better financial protection can help.
• The future of risk and risk assessment (pp. 117-136):
  • Cutting-edge technologies that are changing the way we understand risk;
  • Building a less risky future: How today’s decisions shape disaster risk in the cities of tomorrow;
  • The future of quantifying compounding events in deltas;
  • Understanding risk is essential for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.