Novi horizonti ekošumarstva - smanjenje rizika od katastrofa zasnovano na ekosistemima i iskustva iz Japana

Application and exploration of artificial intelligence technology in urban ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction: A scoping review

Human Security and Japan International Cooperation Agency and Non-governmental Organizations Collaboration (A Case Study of Great East Japan Earthquake/Tsunami)

Volume 1 ofThe Arab Spring Five Years Lateris based on extensive research conducted by scholars from a variety of backgrounds, including many associated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The original research papers are gathered in volume 2 and are available for readers who wish to go even further in understanding the economic background of the Arab Spring. Papers examine women's issues and agricultural practices in Morocco; urban transportation, small enterprises, governance, and inclusive planning in Egypt; reconstruction in Iraq; youth employment in Tunisia; education in Yemen; and more. In addition to Hafez Ghanem, contributors include Mongi Boughzala (University of Tunis ElManar, Tunisia), Mohamed Tlili Hamdi (University of Sfax, Tunisia),Yuriko Kameyama (JICA), Hideki Matsunaga (JICA), Mayada Magdy (JICA), Yuko Morikawa (JICA), Akira Murata (JICA), Kei Sakamoto (JICA), Seiki Tanaka (JICA), Masanori Yoshikawa (JICA), and Takako Yuki (JICA).

Volume 1 of The Arab Spring Five Years Later is based on extensive research conducted by scholars from a variety of backgrounds, including many associated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The original research papers are gathered in volume 2 and are available for readers who wish to go even further in understanding the economic background of the Arab Spring. Papers examine women's issues and agricultural practices in Morocco; urban transportation, small enterprises, governance, and inclusive planning in Egypt; reconstruction in Iraq; youth employment in Tunisia; education in Yemen; and more. In addition to Hafez Ghanem, contributors include Mongi Boughzala (University of Tunis ElManar, Tunisia), Mohamed Tlili Hamdi (University of Sfax, Tunisia),Yuriko Kameyama (JICA), Hideki Matsunaga (JICA), Mayada Magdy (JICA), Yuko Morikawa (JICA), Akira Murata (JICA), Kei Sakamoto (JICA), Seiki Tanaka (JICA), Masanori Yoshikawa (JICA), and Takako Yuki (JICA).

Eco-DRR practices and research: Visualization and analysis of global perspectives

The experience gained during 7 years of cooperation between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Islamabad Children's Hospital (JICA-ICH project, July 1986-June 1993) is described. Islamabad Children's Hospital achieved the goals of the project and became a centre for excellence in health care, education and research for children, fulfilling the objectives of the project. This achievement was evaluated as one of the most successful projects in medical cooperation ever performed by JICA by a third party evaluation team. The problems arising and the lessons experienced through the process are discussed. The importance of the role which should be undertaken by pediatricians in international cooperation with developing countries is emphasized.

Humanity faces a rising number of challenging disasters due to their increasing unpredictability and scale. While large-scale engineering solutions have been the mainstream approach, there is a growing acknowledgment that ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) is a suitable approach in the long term due to its cost-effectiveness, social equity, and environmental sustainability. Governments worldwide are integrating Eco-DRR into policies and legislation. Here, we review the extent of integration of Eco-DRR into DRR policies and legislation in Nepal, India, and Bangladesh using content analysis based on five criteria: acknowledgment, inclusion, weighting, resources, and reflexivity. While Eco-DRR principles are acknowledged and included in the national policies of these three countries, they are not prioritized as compared to competing alternatives due to limited integration tools. Resource allocation is directed towards prevention and relief mitigation, with limited emphasis on research and capacity building, which are crucial for strengthening Eco-DRR. Notably, policy aspirations still need to be realized in legislative action. Strengthening Eco-DRR requires enhanced integration, capacity-building, and robust institutions to boost resilience.

Natural hazards remain recurrent processes that often disrupt the status quo of communities and put the future welfare of people at risk. In the Pyrenees, extreme events related to floods, rockfall, landslides, or snow avalanches have recurrently affected transport corridors and human settlement. Coping with such impacts in the future requires paradigm change toward the implementation of Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) tools and land use. Yet, little is known about the reliability of these approaches in long term. Here, we review a long-term experience (more than a century) from implementing the Eco-DRR strategies, so-called Los Arañones, to protect the International Railway Station of Canfranc (Spain-France) against snow avalanches and torrential floods. The Eco-DRR implemented in Los Arañones consisted of two different strategies (i) at short term, innovative nature-based design dikes; and (ii) at long term, systematic reforestation of hill slopes. We show that, after more than a hundred years since forest engineers implemented these measurements (Benito Ayerbe, 1872–1917), they still can protect the existing infrastructure, although the cost of maintenance to keep the reliability of such Eco-DRR are steadily increasing. Our analyses call for further assessment of its effectiveness and efficiency under climate change stressors, to assure its reliability for the next decades. This example will cast light on implementing such Eco-DRR solutions in the other mountain regions worldwide.KeywordsNatural hazardClimate changeSnow avalanchesDebris floodsNatural-based solutionPyrenees

Floods are amongst the most frequent and widespread disaster worldwide, posing enormous development challenges. Also in West Africa, flood risk still needs proper addressing. Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) approaches are increasingly recognised as cost-effective part of the solution, providing ecosystem services that reduce all three components of risk, namely hazard, exposure and vulnerability. Indeed, Eco-DRR, such as floodplain restoration or agroforestry, can affect hydrological processes, altering the flood hazard and exposure, and provide ecosystem services that reduce people’s vulnerability to floods and/or enhance their adaptive capacities. To fully understand the impact of Eco-DRR on the three components of risk, it is thus important to take an interdisciplinary approach to the assessment of Eco-DRR. Yet, there remains a substantial gap in the comprehensive evaluation of Eco-DRR effects, including guidance on how to depict the flow of ecosystem services and their benefits to people, which undermines the effective use of Eco-DRR measures in flood-prone environments.Using the case study of flood risk in the Ouémé River Basin, this contribution will share advances in the comprehensive evaluation of Eco-DRR measures. After defining locally-relevant Eco-DRR measures based on administrative plans, the scientific literature, and expert surveys, a systematic literature review has been conducted to understand the impact of selected Eco-DRR measures on both hydrological processes and ecosystem services provisioning, so as to evaluate the Eco-DRR measure against its effects on all risk dimensions. For the hazard, the hydrological model SWAT is used, comparing the flood hazard under different land use and land cover change scenarios. Preliminary results, with a focus on the Eco-DRR measure of agroforestry, and lessons learnt will be presented in the session.

Biological weapons are not just topics for contemporary novelists but found their way into classical literature long ago. Shakespeare has Hamlet's father's ghost describe, ‘Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, with juice of cursed hebona in a vial, and in the porches of my ears did pour the leprous distillment.’ (Act 1, Scene 5) Indeed, neither the act nor the accusation is new. Jews in Europe were accused of poisoning wells to cause plague in the Middle Ages. Japanese planes in World War II dropped plague‐infested fleas over Chinese cities and villages. Murder or terrorism with biological or chemical agents is not a far‐fetched scenario—it has been used before. Criminal cases in the USA include various uses of biological agents in the last decades. The Rajneesh Foundation used Salmonella bacteria in 1984 to poison ten restaurant salad bars in the city of The Dalles, OR, hoping it would influence an election in its favour. A separatist group calling itself ‘Republic of Texas’ used Botulinum , HIV and rabies in 1998 and 1999 to threaten judges. Three members were later charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and the eldest, Johnnie Wise, was sentenced to 24 years in prison. In 1977, Diane Thompson, a nurse from Texas, was sentenced to 20 years for intentionally contaminating doughnuts with Shigella dysenteriae in order to achieve personal revenge. > In 1998 and 1999, a separatist group from Texas used Botulinum, HIV and rabies to threaten judges The particular risk of biological agents, when used as weapons, is their extreme uncontrollableness. An infectious agent can easily spread from the original victim to relatives or colleagues. Particularly at risk are the medical personnel who treat victims without knowing what kind of infection they are dealing with. More unpredictable are the number of people and …

An integrated community and ecosystem-based approach to disaster risk reduction in mountain systems

Large-scale disasters, such as hurricanes, cyclones, tsunamis, and forest fires, have caused considerable damage in recent years. This study investigated two case studies of discontinuous open levees (kasumi-tei), which are a traditional Japanese river technology, on the Matsuura River at the sites of Okawano and Azame-no-se, and evaluated the advantages of these levees from the perspective of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR). These case studies were conducted through literature surveys, flood observations, and oral interviews. The systems in both the cases were flood control systems utilizing ecosystem services. The traditional river technology (the flood plain open levee) served as an effective Eco-DRR in both cases. Additionally, the flood plain levee technology enhanced the ecosystem services at both sites, including not only flood control capabilities, but also other ecosystem services. Furthermore, the open levees offered substantial cost advantages over their alternatives. These results suggest that other traditional Japanese river technologies may also be effective in strengthening Eco-DRR.

<p>Soil and Water Bioengineering (SWB) is a discipline established in the second half of XX century, finding its roots in ancient practices, which implies the use of vegetation and natural materials for natural hazards mitigation and ecosystem restoration. Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a recent collective term for solutions supported and/or inspired by nature to address climate-related challenges.</p><p>Although NBS cover a wide range of approaches based or inspired by natural processes and have many objectives in common with SWB, almost no attempts have been done so far to find overlaps and differences, which is needed especially when definitions are linked to legislations and funding mechanisms.</p><p>We present the results of a systematic comparison of NBS definitions, and other terminologies that fall under the NBS concept, with the definition of SWB. First, we identified applications that are related to the NBS umbrella concept, with their relative definitions, with a special focus on flood risk mitigation, ecosystem restoration, landslide and erosion mitigation. The applications analysed include: Watershed Management or hydraulic-forestry arrangements (WM), Nature-based Solutions (NBS), Green/blue Infrastructure (GI), Urban Forestry (UF), Ecological Engineering (EE), as well as Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR).</p><p>Secondly, a comparison matrix was proposed and developed. The matrix was developed by comparing the main aspects of SWB practice with the aims of the other NBS-related applications.</p><p>The structure of the matrix was the following:</p><ul><li>each row represents each of the 3 main aspects of SWB practices: namely "main aims", "fields of application" and "other objectives";</li> <li>the matrix columns designate all the other NBS-related terminologies, named above.</li> </ul><p>The three main aspects of the SWB discipline cover the following:</p><ul><li><em>main aims</em>: the four main objectives of SWB; namely: technical, ecological, landscape and socio-economic objectives.</li> <li><em>fields of application</em>: main domains of applications and fields of interventions;</li> <li><em>other objectives</em>: the multi-purpose functions exerted by SWB.</li> </ul><p>Excerpts from relevant peer-review and grey literature on NBS were included in the matrix to cross-check the 3 main aspects of the SWB practice. We observed that SWB approaches have at least 2 "aims" in common with all the terms, particularly that all 3 main aspects are covered by the NBS definitions. In terms of "fields of application", the highest number of similarities are found between SWB and EE, and, to a smaller extent, WM, GBI and Eco-DRR.</p><p>In this work we conclude that SWB discipline can be recognized as a concept falling under the NBS unifying concept to prioritise nature to integrate climate change adaptation, mitigation and disaster reduction efforts. SWB overlaps and, in some cases, compliments many NBS-related terminologies. Thus, SWB can and should be recognized as having always been an NBS.</p>

<p>Ecosystems and ecosystem services are key to helping achieve reduction in disaster risk, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation, and this is now recognized by major international framework agreements (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2014; United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-2030). However, there is limited knowledge about the cost efficiency and socio-economic equity outcomes of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) compared to traditional engineered strategies.</p><p>In this study we developed a global database of more than 130 peer-reviewed studies, published between 2000 and 2020, that perform economic evaluations of NbS for Ecosystem-based Climate Adaptation (EbA) and Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR). Using meta-analysis techniques, we assess the existing scientific knowledge on the economic viability and performance of NbS for Eco-DRR and EbA, cataloguing outcomes both in terms of degree of economic efficiency and social equity. Our analysis includes multiple dimensions: geographic distribution of the published studies, types of ecosystems and ecosystem services evaluated, hazards and climate impacts analyzed, and economic methodologies used to perform economic efficiency evaluations (e.g., cost benefit analysis, stated/revealed preferences evaluation methods).</p><p>This study builds on a recent global assessment (Sudmeier-Rieux et al, 2021) that performs the first systematic review of Eco-DRR peer-reviewed studies across all disciplines. Their results show robustness of evidence and level of agreement on the role of ecosystems in attenuating 30 types of hazards, based on the assessment methodology established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our meta-analysis expands the 2021 review by evaluating the economic benefits associated with Eco-DRR and NbA approaches; by examining cost efficiency of Eco-DRR and NbA interventions compared to traditional engineering solutions; by performing equity assessments of the outcomes; and by studying how the NbS interventions reviewed contributed to the sustainable development goals (SDGs).</p><p>REFERENCE:</p><p>Sudmeier-Rieux, K., Arce-Mojica,T., Boehmer, H.J., Doswald, N., Emerton, L., Friess, D.A., Galvin, S., Hagenlocher, M., James, H., Laban, P., Lacambra, C., Lange, W., McAdoo, B.G., Moos, C., Mysiak, J., Narvaez, L., Nehren, U., Peduzzi, P1., Renaud, F.G., Sandholz, S., Schreyers, L., Sebesvari, Z., Tom, T., Triyanti, A., van Eijk, P., van Staveren, M., Vicarelli, M., Walz, Y. "Scientific evidence for ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction." <em>Nature Sustainability</em> (2021): 1-8. </p>

Introduction.- Sustainable Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Management.- Risk and Vulnerability.- Building Urban Climate Resilience: Experiences from Vulnerability Assessment in Hue city, Viet Nam Resilience, Transition and Transformation.- Climate Change Risks - Methodological Framework and Case Study of Damages from Extreme Events in Cambodia.- Food security, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk.- Human Health as Pre-conditioning Nutrition towards Achieving Sustainable Development.- Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction: Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.- Access, equity and hazards: Highlighting a socially just and ecologically resilient perspective on water resources.- Sustainable Development and Coastal Disasters: Linking Policies to Practices.- Climate Change and Integrated Approach to Water Resource Management in the Murray-Darling Basin.- Vulnerability and Sustainable Development: Issues and Challenges from the Philippines' Agricultural and Water Sectors.- Community-based approaches to sustainable development and disaster risk reduction.- Education, Training, and Capacity Building for Sustainable Development.- Missing the Forests for the Trees? Assessing the Use of Impact Evaluations in Forestry Programmes.- Integration of Indigenous Knowledge into Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Policies for Sustainable Development: The Case Of The Agta In Casiguran, Philippines.- Usefulness of a Sustainability Literacy Test.- Sustainable development and disaster risk reduction in post-2015.