Utilisation of the Resilience Index
Building climate resilience is a multifaceted process which requires interaction between an array of bodies including individuals, community organizations, governments at local, state and national levels, corporations and international organizations. Thus a climate resilience index can be considered as a tool which can be used by a variety of stakeholders to improve resilience in any location worldwide.
Social Strategies :
- Volunteers provide a critical component to natural disaster preparedness and recovery as volunteers influence the capacity of a community to respond both during and after a natural hazard event. Thus the composite index could assist with identifying which regions should be targeted with government and NGO campaigns to increase the number of volunteers in an area. This would assist with the recruitment and sustainment of volunteers in vulnerable areas. Further, the resilience index could be used as a tool to determine the relative quantity of SES and other emergency volunteers required in a given area. Volunteers in disaster resilient areas may thus be deployed in areas of greater need.
- The disaster resilience index could also be utilized to determine areas which are in greater need of training and disaster related education. Training could thus be targeted to areas of significant risk – such as first aid training.
Economic Strategies
- Through the identification of the most vulnerable areas to natural hazards, this index could be used as a factor in the consideration of the allocation of financial spending on disaster mitigation. Financial spending on disaster mitigation measures thus could be more effectively targeted to the most vulnerable areas.
- Through monitoring changes in resilience before and after the impact of a natural disaster, this index may also serve as a tool to identify how severely impacted a region has been hit. This measure could be utilized as a component to a quantitative framework to objectively and consistently determine if the impact of a natural disaster has been major enough to warrant additional financial assistance outside of standard arrangements.
Technological Strategies :
- Direction of future research and technological development to target identified weaknesses as found via the disaster resilience index.
- Faster adoption of existing technologies to mitigate risk and enhance community resilience in the areas of significant vulnerability identified by the composite index.
Political Strategies :
The proposed climate resilience index can also be used to better equip governments and policymakers to develop sustainable solutions that combat the effects of climate change.
- With higher rates of private owned infrastructure, it is important that we continue to keep a focus on making our assets resilient. Buyers of state owned assets need to understand that they are also taking on service-provision responsibilities. Consideration should be taken via policy measures to ensure these responsibilities are heightened in areas of significant vulnerability. The resilience index should be used as a factor considered in the proposed buyout of a state owned asset.
- By combining the resilience index information within a GIS platform, there is an opportunity to track the resilience index output (overall & subcategories) over time within specific geographic areas. Correlation of these changes with other initiatives for example to the execution of new policy initiatives, or the rollout of new planning schemes could be used as a proxy for the success of these initiatives in influencing adaptive capacity.
Social Strategies :
- Volunteers provide a critical component to natural disaster preparedness and recovery as volunteers influence the capacity of a community to respond both during and after a natural hazard event. Thus the composite index could assist with identifying which regions should be targeted with government and NGO campaigns to increase the number of volunteers in an area. This would assist with the recruitment and sustainment of volunteers in vulnerable areas. Further, the resilience index could be used as a tool to determine the relative quantity of SES and other emergency volunteers required in a given area. Volunteers in disaster resilient areas may thus be deployed in areas of greater need.
- The disaster resilience index could also be utilized to determine areas which are in greater need of training and disaster related education. Training could thus be targeted to areas of significant risk – such as first aid training.
Economic Strategies
- Through the identification of the most vulnerable areas to natural hazards, this index could be used as a factor in the consideration of the allocation of financial spending on disaster mitigation. Financial spending on disaster mitigation measures thus could be more effectively targeted to the most vulnerable areas.
- Through monitoring changes in resilience before and after the impact of a natural disaster, this index may also serve as a tool to identify how severely impacted a region has been hit. This measure could be utilized as a component to a quantitative framework to objectively and consistently determine if the impact of a natural disaster has been major enough to warrant additional financial assistance outside of standard arrangements.
Technological Strategies :
- Direction of future research and technological development to target identified weaknesses as found via the disaster resilience index.
- Faster adoption of existing technologies to mitigate risk and enhance community resilience in the areas of significant vulnerability identified by the composite index.
Political Strategies :
The proposed climate resilience index can also be used to better equip governments and policymakers to develop sustainable solutions that combat the effects of climate change.
- With higher rates of private owned infrastructure, it is important that we continue to keep a focus on making our assets resilient. Buyers of state owned assets need to understand that they are also taking on service-provision responsibilities. Consideration should be taken via policy measures to ensure these responsibilities are heightened in areas of significant vulnerability. The resilience index should be used as a factor considered in the proposed buyout of a state owned asset.
- By combining the resilience index information within a GIS platform, there is an opportunity to track the resilience index output (overall & subcategories) over time within specific geographic areas. Correlation of these changes with other initiatives for example to the execution of new policy initiatives, or the rollout of new planning schemes could be used as a proxy for the success of these initiatives in influencing adaptive capacity.
Improvements to the Disaster Resilience Index
Further iterations on the composite resilience index will be possible with an increased availability of resources. We believe we would be able to further enhance the relevance and accuracy of our composite resilience index via the following:
- Gauge peoples' recognition, recall and actions to define a measure of natural disaster preparedness. This indicator could be incorporated into the social category of the composite index. The level of community preparedness to a natural hazard is a significant factor which influences both a communities coping capacity and disaster impact.
- Implementation of hazard specific indicators in addition to the consideration of general resilience related gauges.
- One restraint of the approach presented herein is that the selected indicators rely heavily on ABS data collected every five years. Alternatives could be investigated that utilise other more readily obtainable and updated data, for examples changes in council rates figures.
- We have also identified the benchmarking and refinement of this index with other established measures as an area of potential moving forward. Via comparing the resilience level indicated by our index to the actual community response of a region to a natural hazard, one would also be able to further refine the current weighting factors.
- Gauge peoples' recognition, recall and actions to define a measure of natural disaster preparedness. This indicator could be incorporated into the social category of the composite index. The level of community preparedness to a natural hazard is a significant factor which influences both a communities coping capacity and disaster impact.
- Implementation of hazard specific indicators in addition to the consideration of general resilience related gauges.
- One restraint of the approach presented herein is that the selected indicators rely heavily on ABS data collected every five years. Alternatives could be investigated that utilise other more readily obtainable and updated data, for examples changes in council rates figures.
- We have also identified the benchmarking and refinement of this index with other established measures as an area of potential moving forward. Via comparing the resilience level indicated by our index to the actual community response of a region to a natural hazard, one would also be able to further refine the current weighting factors.
-A comprehensive list of primary and secondary sources utilised in this investigation.
|
-Project leaders.
-The Australia - Netherlands Water Challenge. |