How can the information and communication technologies (ICTs) empower decision makers and citizens to play a proactive role in management and effective response to natural disasters? The Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) workshop will highlight the recent advances in ICTs and their impact on decision making. The workshop will build upon experience and expertise in ICTs and DRR by both UNDP and a diverse network of organizations, who have come together over the past several years to train environmental professionals in the field. Combining regional UNDP experience, ICT industry expertise, and accumulated first-hand knowledge by this global community of practice, the workshop will offer both theoretical and practical skills in disaster risk reduction, monitoring, and recovery.

Topics

Best practice case studies will be highlighted, through which technologies have been proven to be highly effective tools in disaster management. The transformative digital opportunities provided by the workshop will allow its participants to integrate know-how in a decision-making process, facilitate response and establish multi-stakeholder partnership for regional and global cooperation. The main topics are:

• ICTs for DRR
• Early warning systems
• Innovations in climate risk management (CRM)
• Disaster preparedness and response
• Smart cities and integration of relevant innovative solutions into sectoral and municipal development
• Presentation of technologies including remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), big data, citizen science, mobile technologies, data portals and more

Target Group

The course aims at UN staff, primarily of the UNDP Country offices in Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia, National Focal Points of International Conventions (e.g. Black Sea Commission), relevant government officials (e.g. Ministries of Emergencies, Environment, Communications), researchers and civil society representatives.

Additional Information

In addition to the Innovations in Disaster RIsk Reduction workshop, short spinoff workshops will also be organized in June and July.
The following weekend workshops will be organized right before and after the DRR course:

• Applications of Google Earth Engine (June 27-28)
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the Humanitarian Community 2020 (June 27-28)
• Socio-Environmental Data Analysis and Visualization (June 27-28)

• Build Your Own Cloud (July 4-5)
• Post-Disaster Risk Finance Options & Instruments (July 4-5)

About ISEPEI

The Innovations in Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction workshop continues the series of joint UN-CEU training events under the ISEPEI Project “Bridging ICTs and the Environment”. The ISEPEI Project aims to address the gap between geospatial industry and environmental practitioners by providing in-service education and professional training for environmental decision-makers and practitioners.