Skip to main content

UNDRR Logo

Knowledge

  • Global Assessment Report (GAR)
  • PreventionWeb

Special Events

  • Global Platform
  • International Day for Disaster Reduction
  • World Tsunami Awareness Day

Tools

  • Sendai Framework Monitor
  • Voluntary Commitments

UNDRR

  • UNDRR Africa
  • UNDRR Americas
  • UNDRR Asia-Pacific
  • UNDRR Europe
  • About UNDRR
    About us
    As the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR convenes partners and coordinates activities to create safer, more resilient communities.
    Learn more

    We Mega Menu - About us

    • Our work
    • The Sendai Framework
    • Head of UNDRR
    • Funding
    • Our team
    • History
    • Work with us
  • Our impact
    Our impact
    UNDRR works globally towards the prevention of new, and the reduction of existing disaster risk.
    Learn more

    We Mega Menu - News & Events

    • Latest news
    • Event calendar
    • Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework
    • Global and Regional platforms
    • Media centre
    • Awards
    • Campaigns
    • Our impact

    We Mega Menu - News & Events 2

    • Focus areas
      • Sustainable development
      • Climate action
      • Humanitarian action
      • Inclusion
      • Financing prevention
      • Risk governance
      • Least Developed Countries
  • What we do
    What we do
    UNDRR helps decision makers across the globe better understand and change their attitude to risk
    Learn more

    We Mega menu - Sendai Framework 1

    • Global risk analysis and reporting
    • Monitoring the Sendai Framework
    • Disaster Losses and Damages tracking system
    • Early warnings for all
    • Comprehensive Disaster and Climate Risk Management (CRM)
    • Training

    We Mega menu - Sendai Framework 2

    • Partnerships
      • Partners and stakeholders
      • Initiatives
  • Where we work
    Where we work
    UNDRR works with partners around the world to reduce disaster risk and build resilient communities.
    Learn more

    We Mega Menu - Where we work 1

    • Africa
    • Americas & Caribbean
    • Arab States
    • Asia & Pacific
    • Europe & Central Asia

    We Mega Menu - Where we work 2

    • Bonn Office
    • Kobe Liaison Office
    • New York Liaison Office
    • Office for North East Asia and Global Education and Training Institute
    • Suva Sub-regional Office
  • Research and publications
    Research and publications
    We invest in collecting and analysing risk data through a range of tools, knowledge products, and mobilising like-minded partners.
    UNDRR publications

    We Mega menu - Knowledge 2

    • Global Assessment Report (GAR)
    • UNDRR publications
    • UN resolutions & reports
    • Terminology

    We Mega menu - Knowledge 1

    • PreventionWeb
    • Words into Action
  1. Documents and publications
Working papers
Author(s) Jeremias, Gunnar; Martin, Helge

Bio-hazard disaster risk governance through multi-agency cooperation

Source
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Publication Year
2019
Number of pages
39 p.

The intention of this paper is to contribute to Sendai Framework Priority 1, “Understanding disaster risk”, and Priority 2, “Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk”, by examining biological hazards and by proposing a structure for agencies to mitigate bio-risks.

With regard to Priority 1, the paper aims, first, to develop an understanding of the characteristics that distinguish biological disasters from other disasters, and, second, to highlight the challenges of understanding risk in this area. Obviously a great variety of specific measures for disaster management and risk mitigation for each sort of disaster have already been developed and applied in practice on many occasions and in many countries. Here the wish is to underline that biological hazards differ from other hazards in that it is not only hard to predict when an event will occur, but also what sort of biological agent will cause a disaster, leading to which specific kind of scenario and whether it will be induced naturally, accidentally, or intentionally. Hence, “biological hazard” describes a far broader and more loosely defined field than is the case for hazards where the mechanisms can be anticipated more easily.

Under Priority 2, the authors address a specific challenge for multi-agency coordination in bio-hazard disaster risk reduction. To that end, the report draws up a catalogue of relevant elements and actors, derived from a review of literature. Building on this, the paper proposes an Arena Approach, which allows the creation of clusters of relevant actors for each element by applying Disaster Risk Governance Dimensions. The main focus is not at the policy level but concerns rather the more hands-on aspects of disaster risk management and disaster management, as these involve numerous agencies – from the national to the local. It is the aim of this research to provide a generic approach, which could be easily adopted to specific national requirements. The Arena Approach builds on other existing concepts, but systematically allocates and organizes the elements and dimensions of risk management and the accordant institutions on various levels to cover multiple complex disasters, such as those of biological origin.

This paper is a contribution to the 2019 edition of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2019).

To cite this paper: 

Jeremias, G. and Martin, H. Bio-hazard disaster risk governance through multi-agency cooperation. Contributing Paper to GAR 2019

Share this
www.undrr.org/quick/11743 Copy to clipboard
Go back
Also featured on

PreventionWeb

Download
Download file Download file
Related information
Related links
Center for health security report highlights 15 emerging technologies with potential to reduce global catastrophic biological risks
Biological hazards and risk assessment
Struggling with scale: Ebola’s lessons for the next pandemic
More about the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
Keywords
Hazards
Epidemic & Pandemic
NBC - Nuclear, Biological, Chemical
Themes
Health & Health Facilities
Risk Identification & Assessment
Governance
Disaster Risk Management

Stay in touch

Sign up for UNDRR updates

UNDRR Tools

  • Making Cities Resilient
  • PreventionWeb
  • Sendai Framework Monitor
  • Voluntary Commitments

Contact us

Sendai Framework

© UNDRR

Footer

  • Fraud Alert
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Sustainable Development Goals Logo