Reducing Risks Together: a systemic approach to reducing disaster risk in Europe

Executive summary & Recommendations 

In the last months, we have seen intense heat waves and wildfires across large parts of southern Europe, while Serbia, Kosovo, and Romania have endured devastating floods. Additionally, Northern Italy has faced an unexpected predicament as floods followed a period of drought. The Netherlands experienced the longest dry spell on record (34 days without rainfall), followed by a very wet July and the most severe summer windstorm (Poly) on record. To reduce the risk of such multi-hazard events, we need a more systemic approach to risk management. This is what the MYRIAD-EU project aims to achieve: Reducing Risks Together. 

Natural hazards in the EU have exacted a heavy toll, resulting in approximately ~236,000 fatalities and over €640 billion in economic losses since 2000 (EEA-CATDAT, 2023). The examples above - all of which have taken place in the last few months - reiterate the need to urgently move towards a more holistic approach to disaster risk management, as also stated in the recent Mid Term Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR, 2023). The MYRIAD-EU project is designed to catalyse the paradigm shift required to move towards a multi-risk, multi-sector, systemic approach to risk assessment and management. This policy brief summarises key policy learnings from the first 1.5 years of this Horizon-2020 funded project, culminating in the following key recommendations: 

1. Real-world applications are vital: We recommend efforts to widen the number of real-world detailed case studies throughout the EU, in order to gather good practices and share learning across regions. 
2. Terminology matters: We recommend further harmonising key terminologies related to multi-hazard-risk into international frameworks and promoting consistency in understanding across research-policy-practice nexus. The glossary developed in MYRIAD-EU can serve as a starting point. 
3. Multi-hazard data are required for evidence-based policy making: We have developed a global multi-hazard event dataset that can be used in multi-risk assessment. This supports the EU's evidence-based policy making and the risk and resilience knowledge portals and hubs. 
4. Leverage synergies between Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA): Developing future pathways that address DRR and climate change adaptation can help to achieve several policy goals at once. Further integration of these agendas within EU policy is recommended to help develop a shared vision for a sustainable future. 
5. Promote systemic, multi-risk thinking: Co-developing novel interdisciplinary approaches aimed at assessing, evaluating, managing and communicating multi-risk issues with engaged stakeholders can contribute to the paradigm shift.