Resilience in a riskier world : managing systemic risks from biological and other natural hazards

Abstract

Since the incursion of COVID-19 pandemic, the region has been hit by multiple natural and biological disasters, while climate change has continued to warm the world, exacerbating the impacts. This has reshaped and expanded the Asia-Pacific riskscape. <p></p> The Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2021 addresses the complexity of these converging and cascading risks by analysing natural and biological hazards simultaneously. It presents the impacts of these risks on populations and infrastructure under current, moderate and worst-case climate change scenarios. The Report estimates that annual economic losses arising from such cascading risks could almost double under the worst-case climate change scenario. <p></p> The Report emphasises that in an increasingly risky world all these hazards need to be considered not just as individual threats, but also in relation to the larger systems that they are likely to disrupt. Hence, with the help of advanced technologies, policymakers must consider more complex and varied future scenarios. <p></p> Finally, the Report makes the case for more purposeful and systemic national action plans. It also highlights areas where subregional cooperation can be strengthened and serve as building blocks of a regional strategy for disaster, climate and health resilience.