Risk: What Do We Really Need to Know to Take Action
Nowadays, we must undertake risk assessment studies to make a risk reduction investment. We must collect and sometimes produce hazard, exposure, and vulnerability data; make the necessary calculations for risk; and finally, draw technical and political conclusions and priorities. On average, these studies take months and even years, costing extensive resources. Still, sometimes, when studies are finished, decision-makers have shifted priorities, or administrations have changed. From different perspectives, this panel will explore how to use the available information, find the right balance on the studies needed to act, and innovate around risk assessment for decision-making.
Speakers
Shanna N. McClain
Disasters Program Manager Global Partnerships & Socioeconomic Assessments Coordinator
NASA
Dr. Shanna N. McClain is the Disasters Program Manager for NASA’s Earth Science Applied Sciences Program. She and her team promote the use of Earth observations to support decisions made across the disaster cycle and at the intersection of human-environment-climate dimensions. McClain endeavors to define new and innovative opportunities for applying Earth science information through the development of partnerships and projects in fragile and crisis-affected communities in order to build a more risk-informed global society.
Nicolas Pondard
Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist
GNS Science
Nico is a Senior Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Specialist at the institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS), based in New-Zealand. He has 20 years of professional experience working for international institutions, academia, government, and private sector. Prior to joining GNS, Nico was a DRM specialist at the World Bank (GFDRR), advising low and middle income countries worldwide in managing disaster risk, with a particular focus on risk assessment, disaster preparedness, and risk financing. He worked also as the lead catastrophe risk specialist for the Bank of England.
Nico trained initially as an earthquake scientist and holds a PhD in Geophysics from the Paris Earth Sciences Institute (IPGP, France).
Hon Dr. Renato Solidum, Jr.
Secretary (Minister)
Department of Science and Technology (Republic of the Philippines)
Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr. is the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines. He has worked with DOST for the past thirty-eight (38) years and rose from the ranks. He started his professional career at the DOST – Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) in 1984 after graduating with a BS in Geology degree from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman in the same year. He served at PHIVOLCS in varying capacities, starting as Science Research Specialist I and became its Director in 2003. He pursued his graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA, earning a MS degree in Geological Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (UCSD), obtaining a PhD degree in Earth Sciences.
Rafael Melara
General Secretary of Honduran Social Investment Fund / Social Investment Fund of Honduras