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Background - Cluster for International Disaster Studies
Disasters cause horrible consequences on human lives and livelihoods
around the world. It is estimated that around 75 percent of the global
population live in areas at least once affected by natural disasters
between 1980 and 2000 (Reducing Disaster Risk, 2004:1). Killing more
than 1.5 million people and affecting many more (ibid.:3). Disasters
caused by man are not any less destructive, with around 155,000 killed
and over 4 million affected by technological disasters (EM-DAT, 2007)
and around 3.9 million deaths related to violence and armed conflict
during the 1990s only (Reducing Disaster Risk, 2004:6).
The vast
majority of the death and destruction caused by disasters take place in
the developing and least developed parts of the world. Individuals and
societies in these parts of the world are generally under greater
disaster risks than the more affluent. These uneven levels of risk,
combined with the fact that individuals and societies in the developing
and least developed parts of the world by definition have less resources
available for disaster management, have been identified as a major
threat to sustainable development and to the Millennium Development
Goals. The more affluent states have a responsibility to assist to
reduce poverty and an increasing number of donors are in the process of
focusing more of their official development assistance towards disaster
risk reduction.
This growing interest led, at the World
Conference on Disaster Reduction in Japan 2005, to the establishment of
the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The HFA is a widely recognized and
politically accepted framework that lies down a comprehensive set of
strategic goals and priorities for action for substantially reducing
disaster losses. In order to do so, states need to develop their
capacities for disaster risk reduction and international organisations
and more affluent states has a responsibility to assist in the process.
A lot of work is done and organisations involved do accomplish positive
changes and reduced risks. These good examples are unfortunately often
isolated events that lack the holistic approach necessary for more
substantial developments.
There are many links to research and
education within the HFA and Lund University provides a good base for
advancing knowledge regarding multidisciplinary and holistic approaches
needed to implement it. The university has about 5 500 staff from a
multitude of disciplines and a variety of well established research
centres relevant to disasters and disaster management.
In recent
years the Swedish government has taken considerable steps for
strengthening the implementation of the HFA. Major Swedish actors, such
as Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and
Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA), have been given clearer mandates
to go forward in this process. During this process two major obstacles
have been identified; (1) the global pool of competence needed is
limited to an insufficient number of experts, and (2) a need for new
holistic knowledge, methods and tools for implementing the HFA.
In
an attempt to spread awareness of the need for holisms in project
planning and implementation, SRSA started to develop an overview course
in disaster risk reduction, response and recovery. This short training
course attracted attention from the Swedish government, Sida and leading
international organisations; namely the secretariat of the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC). To increase the quality of the training
course and to raise the level of future courses, SRSA contacted Lund
University. OCHA had during this process also been in contact with
Copenhagen University, which wanted to develop a university programme in
disaster management, and connected the two universities together. The
result was a coming Master of Disaster Management and connected new
needs for Lund University to increase inter-departmental collaboration.
The
establishment of CIDS in 2007 was thus a way for Lund University to
increase its support for the implementation of HFA by:
• Increasing the global competence pool for disaster risk reduction,
response and recovery through purposeful multidisciplinary academic
education.
• Facilitating planning, implementation and evaluation of projects
through the development of new knowledge of, as well as holistic methods
and tools for, disaster risk reduction, response and recovery.
• Enhancing mutual capacity development for disaster risk reduction,
response and recovery through cooperation in research and education with
universities and research institutions in other parts of the world.
• Collaborating with organisations directly involved in disaster risk reduction, response and recovery, regarding research and education, as well as expert support in the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects.
Last modified 7 Dec 2007