AIESEC Sustainable Youth Village (ASYV)

use · Youth and young professionals

AIESEC is an international organisation that has its roots from post ww2 period and since then has continuously championed for peace and sustainable growth and development of youths globally. It offers various programmes from international internships to overseas volunteering to opportunities to develop one’s networks globally. In Singapore especially AIESEC in NUS (established 1981) along with our nation has constantly sought to be ahead of the curve compared to other youth organisations and has conducted various events like Youth Speak Forums which address current relevant and pressing issues like the risk of Youth uncertainty of Employment, Youth being disillusioned in workplace or in school or even about the risk of mental health being unnoticed. All of our topics addressed are also linked to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015. As such in this event we would like to continue on the theme of addressing the risks youths face in today’s world and highlight how AIESEC in NUS alleviates such daunting risks and limitations alongside helping youths out of this conundrum.

Organizer: AIESEC in National University of Singapore

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Building climate resilience practices into city planning – A Vietnamese case study

identify · Cities · Data · risk assessment · flood · tropical cyclone-hurricane-typhoon · drought

Scientific studies demonstrate that climate change and its effects are likely to intensify over the coming decades. Between 1998 and 2017, more than 526,000 people died worldwide and losses of US$ 3.47 trillion (in PPP) were incurred as a direct result of more than 11 500 extreme weather events (Global Climate Index 2019). As global economies grow, expanding urban development in a business-as-usual approach has the potential to accelerate adverse climate change impacts. Redirecting the urban planning process to be shaped based on ecological and sustainable development practices, it is necessary, and possible, to alter the upward and increasing trajectory of CC impacts from urban development to significantly lower impact projection.

An ecologically sensitive approach to urban planning is necessary to plan and make the cities less vulnerable to adverse impacts of changing climate patterns. Using an analytical, GIS-based modeling approach to reshape the spatial planning process holds the potential to significantly reduce the risk to urban populations in specific, and to ecosystems and the living environment at large. Increasing efforts to reshape the spatial planning  process are strengthened by sharing such experience and learnings, enabling the urban development community to incrementally work towards the objective of making Cities more climate resilient and less impactful.

Spatial Decisions was part of one such project covering three provinces of Vietnam. This project, supported by Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC), implemented under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Government of Vietnam, developed and demonstrated the methodology for climate change analysis and hydrological studies in the context of integrated urban development in the project provinces of HaTinh, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan of Vietnam.

According to GermanWatch, Vietnam is one of the top ten most affected countries on the Global Climate Risk Index of 2017. Vietnam’s persistent weather extremes in 2017 included storms, typhoons and droughts. As reported by Vietnam’s Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change, annual rainfall has increased up to 20% over the last 50 years, Sea level rise along Vietnam coasts is at the rate of about 2.8mm/year, annual average temperature has increased about 0.5°C during the last 50 years (1958-2007), and winter temperatures have increased faster than those of summer. It is evident that climate variability and change is already inflicting unexpected changes in several environmental parameters.

The BTC project employed research and pilot analysis on the techniques of ecological land use planning through cartographic modeling and spatial analysis to create a more sustainable process for urban growth. Spatial Decisions would like to present the learnings including what worked and what did not work at a side event at the Understanding Risk Forum, 2020. Through this discussion, we intend to discuss and identify opportunities for knowledge sharing and replication of such Climate Resilient local urban planning initiatives.

The three provinces are highly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological risks including storms, floods, and erosion. Results from this study were used to support the regional spatial plan of the river basin and the Master Plans of the urban areas of the selected provinces. Consequently a strategic spatial planning approach using sustainable urban development principles, focused on the areas around water bodies, the river mouth, the coastal edge, with the purpose of transforming the urban areas as a part of a larger eco city. The use of GIS-based tools was applied to integrate the data from the studies to support the analysis and formulation of a ‘Strategic Structural Planning’ approach.

This approach is more responsive to the increasingly complex and diverse urbanization context, the urban impact of climate change, and possible climate change risks. Analysis was conducted for climate change (downscaling), hydrology, and urban policy & trends leading to the development of a suitable methodology for strategic spatial planning using GIS as a tool to complement the urban planning process following the regulatory process as directed under national and provincial procedures. Urban reconnaissance and field studies were undertaken to assess the current state of urbanization, proposed expansion limits, and environmental and social conditions. Integration of water resource management into urban development in relation to climate change was a key component of the study.

A focal outcome of this project was the documentation and testing of a GIS-based methodology for integration of climate resilience and water resource management practices into urban development so as to reduce the vulnerabilities of an urban area. This methodology provided a clearer direction on creating hazard risk-resilient urban spaces supplemented by integrating green infrastructure and open space management for integrated water resource management. The project outcomes effectively demonstrate the potential for improved urban development as a continuous process through the iterative analytical modeling and planning process using best available data, however limited, and GIS-based tools to reinforce Urban Climate Resilience. Being an easily replicable process, this methodology can be effectively applied to address increasing urban development, resulting in improved long term growth with reduced climate change impacts.

Organizer: Spatial Decisions

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Risk Tank: Can you sell science and DRR solutions?

identify · Stakeholder collaboration · risk assessment · risk communication · earthquake · volcano

Many times, the person who has the best understanding of a city, its risks and the best alternatives for solutions does not have enough communication skills. On the other hand, those who have good communication skills are sometimes not fully aware of the risks that exist in their city or country or do not entirely comprehend technical scientific documents that explain those risks. Also, whenever you have the opportunity to explain an idea or solution to a stakeholder, you have limited time, so you must have a really good comprehension of the issue and be able to explain a really complex problem and its solution in simple terms and within limited time, such as 1 minute.

This challenge – focused workshop “Risk Tank – Can you sell science & DRR solutions?” aims to promote the participation and collaboration between young professionals from different fields of knowledge, especially between hard and soft sciences. At the same time, to improve communication skills from hard science participants and to strengthen the reading and comprehension of scientific documents from soft science participants.

Young professionals from different backgrounds, will be paired to increase their exposure to new fields/sectors and will need to share expertise and skills in order to be the team which can best sell DRR solutions to solve/mitigate a specific risk situation in a given area. This activity will require 30 people partnered in couples, and it will be divided in 2 rounds.

In the first round, each of the couples (integrated by 1 participant from hard and one from soft sciences) will have 1.5 hours to read a scientific article (related to DRR topics) and come up with the most efficient (and creative) way to explain to the jury -in one minute- the importance of the research topic and why it was developed. After each presentation, the participants will get feedback from the jury to improve their participation. The jury for this round will be the authors of the papers that they previously analysed (the participants won’t know about this).

Only 10 couples will pass to the next round. For the second round, the couples will need to think about the paper as if it were a new project, methodology, framework, policy, service, law, idea that wants to be implemented in a city. They will receive a specific stakeholder group which they will need to sell the idea. They need to think on how to approach that group, make their proposal understandable and convince them to be the “company” to lead the project. They will have 1 hour to do this.

Finally, they will do a 5 minute presentation to convince the jury to invest in the solution. The jury will play the role of different stakeholders and act as them (politicians, researchers, NGOs, farmers, youth, civil protection agents, etc) . They can use any material or resources to make their presentation and sell themselves as the best company (videos, sketch, movies, storytelling etc). The jury will select the couples who convinced them the most, based on the pre-identified selection criteria.

The 3 teams ranked with the most points wins.

Agenda:

9:00am- 9:30am: Introduction – brief explanation of the contest

9:30am:- 11:00am: Reading time for a scientific paper, and shape their 1-minute presentation

11:00am- 12:00pm: Presentations and feedback from the Jury

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Lunch break

1:00pm-2:00pm: Preparation for the second round

2:00pm- 3:00pm: Presentations and Jury decision

Organizer: Water Youth Network

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Catching Fire: New paradigms for wildfire resilience

*note: this is a closed event

use · wildfire

As the climate changes, the world has marked a significant increase in the number of extreme wildland fire disasters. From the United States and Australia, to Portugal and Greece, to Georgia, Nepal, Brazil and Bolivia, this phenomenon is driving an increase in civilian and firefighter deaths and creating unforeseen economic burdens. In an increasing number of cases, wildfire severity and consequence are increasing in countries and regions that are unprepared and may be unable to adopt the management practices of wealthier nations.

Unlike many natural hazards, wildland fire can often be effectively mitigated during the event itself. However, the required response resources such as specialized aircraft, professionally trained teams, and emerging technologies are expensive and may not be reasonable for countries with a developing economy.

As a result, from community protection strategies, to early warning systems and from regional/hemispherical resource sharing to public education, the world is falling behind in our understanding and capacity to collectively manage wildfire. Wildfire is winning the race. There is no choice; we must innovate to catch fire.

This workshop will bring together program experts, policy professionals, response leaders and technology innovators to explore various wildfire scenarios, share insights and apply their knowledge and experience. The event will open with a brief description of a powerful innovation that was pioneered by each participant. After completing this incendiary opening, participants will be matched into small teams where they will race the clock to develop innovative solutions to existing national, regional and hemispherical wildfire management challenges. To conclude the event, each team will provide a short presentation selecting 1-2 of their challenges and their plan to innovate, overcome those challenges and create a new paradigm for wildfire resilience.

Organizer: World Bank

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A toolkit for landslide early warning systems

use · risk assessment · early warning · landslide

Landslides are complex hazards that affect many areas of the world and cause significant loss of life and damage. Landslide early warning systems provide an opportunity to generate information in advance of such events, allowing for early actions that can reduce risks and impacts of these hazards. However, landslide early warning systems vary widely in approaches, scale, and many case studies are non-operational. There are also no existing holistic guidance resources for countries considering implementing landslide early warning systems.

This event will provide an overview of landslide early warning systems from both a technical and operational/practical perspective, drawing on experiences and knowledge across the globe and case studies of Nepal and India from the Science for Humanitarian Emergencies and Resilience programme (SHEAR). Both slope and regional scale landslide early warning systems will be covered in a marketplace format to encourage discussions and tailored sharing of knowledge aligned with participants’ interests and needs. The essential value of a combined approach across physical science, social science and practitioners will be emphasised in order to achieve an operational, sustainable system.

The event will also test launch a new guidance resource for setting up and implementing landslide early warning systems, getting feedback from the participants to ensure the guide provides appropriate and comprehensive information for stakeholders embarking on landslide early warning.

Organizer: Practical Action

Partner Organizations: British Geological Survey, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, UK Met Office, King’s College London, Practical Action, Red Cross Climate Centre, Geological Survey India, Amrita University, Newcastle University, Imperial College London, University of Birmingham, Tribhuvan University, Society of Hydrologists and Meteorologists, Kathmandu Living Labs, Nepal Department for Hydrology and Meteorology, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Geological Survey of Austria, University of Geneva, Wageningen University, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

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Efficient risk data sharing: A dedicated disaster risk data library

identify · Emerging technologies · risk assessment · data · earth observations

The Risk Data Library Project is creating an online library for finding risk data, explicitly designed for the needs of risk assessment experts. The risk data schema, which store the data, are in place – they include hazard, exposure and vulnerability data inputs, and modelled loss outputs. The objective of the Risk Data Library Project is to make risk assessments everywhere more efficient and more effective, by making user-ready datasets more readily available, so risk experts can spend less time looking for data and more time working with it.

Finding and preparing data consumes a large portion of a risk assessment project’s resources — between 20% and 60% — and while good collections exist, they are specialized. None of them provides access to all the components of a project: the hazard, exposure, and vulnerability data together, or maintains data in a consistent format with its metadata, needed for an improved level of interoperability. The Risk Data Library changes this.

This Focus Day event will bring together the community of risk data generators and users to discuss, through a design-led workshop, the benefits of the Risk Data Library and challenges of making it sustainable. The session will be in three parts. We will showcase the capabilities of the Risk Data Library and opportunities brought by establishing a searchable collection of consistent data, aiming to build awareness and support for the project. Then participants, in groups, will discuss those perceived benefits, and discuss challenges in achieving a sustainable library. Finally the groups will address those challenges by suggesting solutions that will overcome the barriers to success.

Organizer: GFDRR Labs

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European Commission MISSION on Adaptation to Climate Change with Societal Transformation

use · risk assessment · early warning · landslide

Partly inspired by the Apollo 11 mission to put a man on the moon, the European research and innovation missions aim to deliver solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing our world. They are an integral part of the Horizon Europe framework programme beginning in 2021. Climate adaptation is the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. The mission area will support this process by connecting citizens with science and public policy and this is an important part of understanding riskA mission in this area will help maximise the impact of the EU’s support to research and innovation and demonstrate its relevance for society and citizens.Its focus will be on solutions and preparedness for the impact of climate change to protect lives and assets. It will include behavioural changes and social aspects by addressing new communities beyond usual stakeholders, which help lead to a societal transformation.This mission area has a mission board tasked with identifying one or more specific missions for implementation under Horizon Europe. The mission board consists of 15 experts, including the chair, and is supported by a mission secretariat and an assembly. Our time line is September 2019 Mission board meets for the first timeEnd 2019-Early 2020 Target for mission boards to identify the first of one or more possible missions in the areaThe mission board develops, together with stakeholders and citizens, the research and innovation activities that will contribute to the mission. These will be funded via the Horizon Europe work programme for 2021-2022.On 1 January 2021 the mission will come into effect with the launch of Horizon EuropeAim of the workshop is to consult with colleagues on how best to inform the Mission on climate adaptation as the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects by connecting citizens with science and public policy.

Organizer: Professor Virginia Murray

Partner Organizations: European Commission and Public Health England 

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Increasing disaster resilience in Asia-Pacific cities through science and technology

identify · use · Infrastructure · Emerging technologies · cities

Digitisation offers new opportunities for science to analyse the complexity of urban environments and stimulates the development of new or disruptive technologies. Such technologies can support the development of smart and disaster resilient cities. In this session, we will give insights to such technologies (e.g., ur-scape,..) which are user-centric and allow stakeholders to visualise critical infrastructure hotspots related to natural hazards and subsequently help planning efforts in building disaster resilience in cities.

Followed by sharing a few examples of how science has led to the development of disruptive technologies for building disaster resilience in cities, we will trigger a discussion about the challenges stakeholders, in particular, local governments face in implementing such technologies and how ongoing efforts to build disaster resilience in cities of the Asia-Pacific region could benefit from such technologies.

Organizer: Singapore-ETH Centre

Partner Organizations: Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan; Institute for Global Environmental Studies, Japan

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Understanding the anatomy of DARAJA: How to construct the ne plus ultra of inclusive city / community forecasting and early warning systems

communicatE · use · risk communication · Design, visualization and art · Stakeholder collaboration · early warning

How would you go about creating a forecasting and early warning system in which the principles of inclusivity and co-design are applied to the absolute maximum? The “Understanding the Anatomy of DARAJA” Workshop will allow participants to deconstruct a weather and climate services project supported by the Met Office and Climate KIC that won a innovation award from the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP). “Understanding the Anatomy of DARAJA” will involve three key activities: 1) An impact model exercise involving the co-design methodology of the Met Office, the Design for Impact Framework of the World Bank’s GFDRR and the systems-wide innovation model of Climate KIC; 2) A persona-based exercise using the example of an urban water vendor, a cleaning lady and a rapid bus transit system manager; 3) An information mapping exercise that will feature Resurgence’s information ecosystems mapping tool applied last year with the World Bank’s GFDRR in Chiang Mai at the UR Field Lab. Targeted at meteorologists, extreme weather forecasters, disaster risk managers, community development experts, risk communicators and insurers, the learning outcomes of the workshop for participants will be a working proficiency in the key conceptual and operational principles of ensuring that weather forecasting and early warning services meet the needs of the 1 billion residents of informal settlements based in urban Asia and other global regions.

Organizer: Resurgence Urban Resilience Trust

Partner organizations: Kounkuey Design Initiative, Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI)

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