As disasters are likely to increase across South and Southeast Asia, as more vulnerable people and assets are exposed to extreme climate-induced events and earthquakes, and as cities continue to grow, there is a need at both local and national levels to reassess vulnerability and exposure in order to better manage disaster risk.

The CATALYST Project is a European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) funded project which aims to strengthen capacity development in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) by fostering and strengthening cooperation and synergy among the various players in those fields. The project seeks to gather the latest scientific information in the area of disaster risk management and synthesize it into a series of reports designed to bridge the gaps among and between science, practice and policy-making. 

The CATALYST workshop will focus on vulnerability, disaster risk reduction, especially related to hydro-meteorological hazards, and governance of risk and climate change adaptation. The workshop brings together experts in the field of DRR and CCA from a broad range of institutions, both locally and internationally, specifically focusing on South and Southeast Asia, who will lend their expertise in discussions on current practices and challenges in DRR and future challenges posed by human-induced climate change. The focus will be on identifying good DRR/CCA practices as well as the gaps, barriers and needs, and ultimately to derive recommendations for capacity development in all phases of the risk cycle.

Among the scheduled speakers at the workshop are Mr Jerry Velasquez of UNISDR – the UN's office for disaster risk reduction – who will present the challenges in developing capacity at all levels for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, and Mr. Hans Jakob Hausmann of the Danish Red Cross / Red Crescent, who will present ways in which disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation can be integrated in terms of both governance and practice. Attendees will work together to identify best practices and provide recommendations for enhancing our capacity to manage disasters and adapt to climate change. 

The results of the workshop will feed a series of Best Practice Papers and a Policy Notebook targeted at a wider group of practitioners in the field of DRR/CCA, policy-makers, the general public and the media.

For further details, please visit http://www.catalyst-project.eu/news/01news-008.html