Risk Returns

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•

Increasing the capacity of society to cope with its

changing environment, including hazards (adapta-

tion)

. The above-mentioned review also shows that

many curricula presently dealing with hazards and

risk reduction are, in fact, concerned with teaching

environmental stewardship.

In this light, it is evident that there is significant potential for

further mutual reinforcement of the educational objectives

of ESD and DRR education.

How ESD benefits from DRR education

Operationalizing ESD

– DRR education has an important

contribution to make to ESD in terms of operational-

izing this approach that can sometimes appear rather

abstract and theoretical. By showing how it concretely

helps communities to reduce their vulnerability as well

as the frequency and scale of natural disasters, some

aspects of DRR education can serve as a tangible imple-

mentation of ESD and this in turn could help advocacy

efforts for ESD and the UN Decade of Education for

Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005–2014).

A sense of urgency

– DRR education gives a sense

of urgency to some sustainability issues. Since ESD

tends to work with a rather long-term perspective, it

may not effectively convey the importance of imme-

diate action and implementation. Linking DRR to

ESD might help to advocate for the importance of

starting ESD programmes today instead of waiting

until tomorrow.

broader framework of ESD. DRR relates directly to all three dimen-

sions of sustainability (social, environmental and economic) in terms

of both causes and consequences.

Given the strong link between sustainable development and

DRR, the link between ESD and DRR education needs to be further

strengthened. On one hand, ESD aims to integrate the values

inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of learning to

encourage changes in behaviour that allow for a more sustainable

and just society for all.

Education for DRR, on the other hand, is

an interactive process of mutual learning among people and insti-

tutions to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout a

society and to avoid or limit the adverse impacts of hazards, within

the broad context of sustainable development.

DRR education and

ESD both work towards the goals and within the framework of

sustainable development.

DRR education and ESD: mutually beneficial concepts

UNESCO advocates for DRR education to be conceptualized within the

framework of ESD so that both initiatives becomemutually beneficial and

increase the long-term sustainable development of societies. If applied in

the broader perspective afforded by ESD and linked to efforts to main-

stream ESD into all of education, DRR education could contribute to the

twomain aspects of disaster prevention (hazards frequency and intensity

as well as vulnerability) by:

•

Reducing the negative impact of society on the environment, thereby

reducing the frequency and intensity of hazards (mitigation)

. A

review on the role of education in DRR

found that in primary and

secondary school teaching, there are many programmes underway

in environmental education. Some of these already include mate-

rial on natural hazards.

The relationship between DRR and the three dimensions of sustainability

Pre-disaster

Post-disaster

Social

Environmental

Economic

• Sound human development prevents

uncontrolled urbanization (slums and

informal settlements in disaster-prone

areas)

• Better education levels increase

resilience

• Degraded eco-systems (through

monocultures, deforestation, etc.)

increase intensity and frequency of

natural hazards

• Healthy eco-systems provide natural

defences from meteorological hazards

(adaptation)

• Unsustainable consumption and production

patterns exacerbate global warming

• High-income communities have more

means to invest in disaster risk reduction

• Traumatic experience for society

• Casualties, diseases weigh heavy on

health systems

• Disruption of schooling

• Possible social unrest

• Environmental emergencies created by

disasters (nuclear power plants, etc.)

• Further eco-system degradation

• Contribution to socio-natural hazards

• Infrastructure destruction

• Loss of workforce

• Decreased productivity and growth