We know that the frequency of disasters will continue to rise because of climate change and that our current and future development choices play an even larger in determining risks, writes Michael Beck in a Devex blog post, part of a series highlighting the innovative projects supported by the Global Resilience Partnership, an initiative by The Rockefeller Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency designed to help millions in Africa and Asia build more resilient futures.
Beck reflects on his participation on a panel at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, where world leaders got together in March in Sendai, Japan, to discuss how to reduce risks from future disasters, and the stories shared by five coastal community members affected by the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. Beck shares what as part of the Global Resilience Challenge, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society and a growing team of collaborators are developing approaches to reduce risks that combine natural habitats with other methods. "In addition to focusing on nature-based defenses rather than just artificial defenses, we want to ensure that these defenses are built to achieve ecological conservation and risk reduction in ways that are strategic and effective", he writes.
Michael W. Beck is the lead marine scientist for The Nature Conservancy. He is also a research associate at the Institute for Marine Science and has an adjunct appointment in the Department of Ocean Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Beck serves on an advisory committee of the National Academy of Sciences (marine hydrokinetic energy) and on NOAA’s Science Advisory Board (ecosystem science and management work group).