Re-Energize Governance of Disaster risk reduction and resilience for sustainable development

The proposed research will support developing and developed states to build adaptive governance capabilities that will embed equitable disaster risk reduction and resilience in development planning and development programmes. We emphasize the importance of community involvement in disaster risk management planning and the role of legal principles and institutions in reducing asymmetries in knowledge and power within a society.
In conditions of post-normal science, where facts and indicators are uncertain and values are disputed, there is need for a normative-institutional approach involving diverse stakeholders and the ponderation of legal principles.
Our nexus-informed methodological approach combines artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) within a transdisciplinary research agenda. It will transform qualitative and quantitative data into actionable insights and inspire a new breed of disaster reduction governance. The project will do this by creating and applying an open-access tool, systematically eliciting expert views to contribute evidence to governments' plans for disaster risk reduction, and developing response processes that integrate a normative institutional approach to support the legitimacy of any given intervention of policies intended to enhance the resilience of communities. This project will thereby develop innovative and implementable strategies and technologies to help reduce disaster risk and enhance societal coping capabilities.
Appropriate policies and adaptive governance mechanisms will be discussed and negotiated with disaster planners, vulnerable communities and other stakeholders. International workshops and will ensure that lessons are learnt from case studies and that best practices are identified, maximising knowledge exchange. The transdisciplinary outputs and guidelines will thus support decision-makers and communities to advance equitable disaster risk reduction through effective management of pre- and post- disaster risks placing vulnerable communities at the centre of all efforts.

In line with the Sustainable Agenda and the Sendai Framework, we expect the main beneficiaries to be communities, cities and islands themselves. The research outcomes will benefit further key decision makers, operators, industries and wider society. We expect short-term, mid-term and long-term impacts from Re-Energize DR3: short-term impacts will arise from the research outputs and engagement with stakeholders; mid-term impacts will come from the use of our tools along with partners in Accra/Ghana and Mauritius, and wider dissemination towards the end of the project duration and beyond (five years); long=term will emerge from the capacity generated through Re-Energize DR3 and wider dissemination of findings for five-ten years internationally. The final conference will assemble at least ten more international islands and cities representatives, key international organisations and stakeholders. We have devised a project impact plan to deliver these impacts including close collaborations with stakeholders, capacity building including early career researchers, providing evidence and analysis through accessible models and data designed to meet QA standards, communication strategy through briefings and participation to key events and conferences to show case our research (please see case for support for full description)