Webinars facts
Europe/Copenhagen
Join our CTCN Consortium Partner, the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) for this introductory webinar on technologies for managing disaster risks in the context of climate change.
Climate change and disaster risk reduction are closely linked. In the recent years, the scale of disasters has expanded, and a vast majority, almost 80%, of this growth is due to climate-related events. Changes in climate not only affect average temperatures, but also extreme temperatures, increasing the likelihood of weather-related natural disasters. Seas are rising because of climate change. So are extreme rain storms. There is growing evidence that warming temperatures are increasing the destructive force of hurricanes.
More extreme weather events in future are likely to increase the number and scale of disasters, while at the same time, the existing methods and tools of disaster risk reduction provide powerful capacities for adaptation to climate change. The objective of this webinar is to enhance the participants’ understanding of the effects of climate-related disasters, and how can these be addressed through the use of technology, in terms of hardware, software and orgware.
Meet our speakers
Facilitator: Dr. Rajendra Shrestha, Asian Institute of Technology
Dr. Shrestha is an Associate Professor in Natural Resources Management at the Asian Institute of Technology. He specializes in land use and land cover change, and application of geoinformatics in natural resources management. He has been operating in the environmental management field for over 25 years, and is a key resource person for the current Technological Needs Assessment Project implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UNEP DTU Partnership on behalf of the Global Environment Facility.
Dr. Mukund S. Babel, Asian Institute of Technology
Relevant expertise: Climate change impact assessments; Flood & Drought management
Dr. Babel is a full Professor in Water Engineering and Management at the Asian Institute of Technology. He has over 28 years of experience in diverse areas pertaining to water resources management. Over the last decade or so, his work has had a specific emphasis on climate change on hydrology and water resources. He has published over 250 articles in books, journal and conferences, and has carried out more than 57 research and sponsored projects with international/government agencies such as The ADB; FAO; UNESCO-IHE; World Bank; Governments of Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal, Bhutan and India.
Dr. Manzul Hazarika, Asian Institute of Technology
Relevant expertise: Multi-hazard risk assessment and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Dr. Hazarika is the Associate Director of the Geoinformatics Center at the Asian Institute of Technology. He has rich international experience in 17 developing countries of Asia over the past 15 years, working closely with the government agencies as well as international institutions in multi-hazard risk assessment and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). He collaborates closely with the World Bank in capacity building in CAPRA for probabilistic risk assessment.
Mr. Atiq Ahmed, Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
Relevant expertise: Early warning systems; Social-eco-logical resilience
Mr. Ahmed works with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Thailand as a Climate Information Application Specialist. His specializes in developing community-based early warning systems and societal application of usable science to build climate resilience in the region and vulnerable sectors. He has over 15 years of extensive experience of working in the field of climate change adaptation, having worked in dozens of portfolio projects/programs in Asian countries with agencies such as CEGIS, ADB, USIOTWS/USAID, ADPC, IDS-Plan International and others.
Dr. Sylvain Perret, Asian Institute of Technology and CIRAD
Relevant expertise: Water governance; economics of cli-mate related disasters