The Proceedings from the second Understanding Risk (UR) Forum, held July 2-6, 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa are now available to download from the World Bank’s site

500 disaster risk management (DRM) experts and practitioners from more than 86 countries came together to exchange knowledge and share best practice in disaster risk assessment. The Best Practices in Risk Assessment handbook summarizes the stimulating discussions that took place during the Forum, covering topics ranging from risk assessments for financial applications, drought resilience and climate change to satellite earth observation, crowdsourcing, and new tools for building resilience for floods, earthquakes, and landslides, among others. The event was a resounding success, not only because it brought together the world’s leading experts in risk assessment, but because it was testimony to the tremendous progress achieved in understanding risk since UR first launched in 2010.

Convened by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the World Bank, the 2012 UR Forum was organized in partnership with the Government of South Africa’s National Disaster Management Center (NDMC), Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the European Union (EU).
The proceedings include contributions about

• Major Disasters since UR2010
• Assessing Risk in a Changing Climate
• Q&A with Hon. Patricia De Lille
• Thinking about the Unthinkable
• Advancing Risk Assessment for Financial Applications
• The Global Assessment Report
• Q&A Alan Knott Craig Jr.
• New Tools and Methodologies for Building Disaster Resilience
• Open Data
• Applications of Crowdsourcing for Development
• Community-Based Risk Assesment
• The Climate and Gender Game
• Satellite Earth Observation in Support of Disaster Risk Management in Africa
• Drought Response and Resilience – Innovations in the Horn of Africa & Beyond
• Flood Risks Across Spatial Scales
• Landslide Risk Assessments for Decision-Making
• Meteorological, Hydrological, and Climate Services to Support Risk Analysis
• Working Together to Advance Earthquake Risk Assessment
• Capacity Building