Advances in Integrated Approaches for Disaster Science and Sustainable Development

Dear Colleagues,

Research and practice have shown over the years that disasters and development exhibit strong interdependence. Disaster risk is a cross-cutting issue that influences multiple sectors, and disaster impacts are known to be amplified due to unsustainable development practices that increase exposure and vulnerability of communities, physical assets, and economies. This, coupled with the intensification of certain hazards dues to factors connected with climate change, creates the conditions for an unsustainable increase of disaster impacts that must be mitigated by research-driven efforts worldwide.

Although the case for a better integration between disaster risk management and sustainable development has been argued for some time, its successful implementation is still a challenge and calls for an increasing understanding of the root causes of risk. On the one hand, we see that inadequate disaster risk management influences our response and recovery from disasters, thus possibly reverting ongoing efforts to achieve multiple sustainable development targets. On the other hand, different management practices are seen to be rooted in the social, cultural, economic, and environmental characteristics of the country/community, which means that development itself influences policies and actions for risk reduction. Furthermore, issues related with the adequate consideration of scenarios involving cascading hazards (when one hazard triggers another hazard) or complex emergencies (when one hazard changes the conditions for the occurrence of another hazard at a later time) are becoming a new challenge, particularly given the current worldwide pandemic whose impacts interfere with our ability to respond to the simultaneous occurrence of other hazards, while securing sustainable development efforts. Enforcing enhanced disaster risk-informed sustainable development policies and practices is therefore seen to be fundamental and should be at the heart of the sustainable development agenda.

In light of these considerations, the objective of this Special Issue is to present original contributions discussing theoretical frameworks, methods, and case studies addressing the interrelations between the several disaster risk management stages and sustainable development across different sectors and different worldwide regions. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the different disaster risk management dimensions, and the cross-disciplinary nature of research addressing sustainable development, contributions from the social and the physical sciences, including environmental science, engineering, urban planning, public health, geography, sociology, and human ecology, among others, are welcomed.

Dr. Xavier Romão
Dr. Carlotta Rodriquez
Guest Editors

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