ReliefWeb

Understanding Risk (UR) is a community of more than 2,600 leading experts and practitioners in disaster risk assessment from around the world. Members of the community include representatives of government agencies, multilateral organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, academia, community-based organizations, and civil society.

Every two years, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) convenes the UR Community at UR Forums. Forums are “state of the art” events that showcase best practices and the latest technical know-how in risk assessment. UR provides partners with the opportunity to highlight new activities and initiatives, build new partnerships, and further foster advances in the field.

UR is a community of global experts in the field of disaster risk assessment. UR community members share knowledge and experience, collaborate, and discuss innovation and best practice in risk assessment. This Community convenes every two years at UR Forums.

The first UR Forum was held in Washington D.C. in June 2010. Since then the world has witnessed high impact disasters and extreme events that have changed the way we understand disaster risk. UR 2012, held in Cape Town, July 2-6, convened 500 risk assessment experts from more than 86 countries to address this challenge, underscoring the importance of integrating disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) as a core element of development.

Organized in partnership with the Government of South Africa and the European Union (EU), UR 2012 showcased new tools for decision–makers, strengthened regional and global partnerships, and built technical capacity in the Africa region through a series of training events.

The UR Community of Practice remains a unique platform for incubating innovation and forging partnerships and will continue to work collaboratively to build resiliency to disaster risk in the future.