Disaster Prevention and Response

Global crises are multiplying: Here’s how science can help our public decision-makers

The authors argue that the Canadian government’s Scientific Council, which synthesizes the best scientific evidence available for parliamentarians and members of government, needs much better evidence at its disposal to grapple with the global polycrisis. They outline five ways in which governments can more effectively utilize good evidence in policymaking: ask scientific advisors to “show […]

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Our Polycrisis Demands a Radically New Approach to Risk Management

Ruth Richardson, the Executive Director of the Accelerator for Systemic Risk Assessment, argues that the “escalating global polycrisis demands an urgent and transformative shift in how we assess, anticipate, and mitigate systemic risks.” She then suggests a range of practical actions governments could take to better contend with polycrisis, such as creating a Minister for

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Positive Pathways report

This Cascade Institute report explores how to translate an understanding of polycrises into actionable strategies to alleviate them. It suggests ways in which polycrisis analysis can build on existing approaches to systemic change to help chart positive pathways to better futures, by examining multiple factors — the sorts of systems changes required to avoid, mitigate

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Causal Loop Diagrams handbook

In this handbook, Cascade Institute Polycrisis Fellow Michael Lawrence explains how to read and draw a causal loop diagrams (CLD)–a systems mapping technique that helps us to think through our mental model of a system, increase our understanding of a system, and communicate our knowledge to others. It clarifies some common sources of confusion, provides

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The Disruption Nexus

Roman Krznaric explores the conditions in which crises lead to transformative societal change. He finds that transformative responses are most common in conditions of war, disaster, revolution, and disruption. The latter refers to “a moment of system instability that provides opportunities for rapid transformation” which is created by the “disruption nexus” of crisis events (typically

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WTW Research Network Risk & Resilience Review: Emerging Risks from Geopolitical Shifts

This report by the WTW Research Network “introduces research and opinions that provide new perspectives to support risk management and resilience.” In particular, this report focuses on WTW’s work in geopolitics, topics such as supply chains, national competition, and emerging risks and their interconnectivity. WTW posits that the topics covered “highlight a need for an

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Global Tipping Points Report 2023

Global Tipping Points is a report, led by the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute and funded by the Bezos Earth Fund, that identifies negative and positive tipping points with regards to ongoing global crises. According to the report, the existence of negative tipping points shows that the threats posed by the current crises we

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Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2024. Forensic Insights for Future Resilience: Learning from Past Disasters

The GAR 2024 report examines current and emerging trends through forensic analysis of ten recent disasters, identifying key drivers of vulnerability such as poverty, inequality, unplanned urbanization, and weak enforcement of environmental and safety standards. It underscores the urgent need to shift from reactive responses to proactive, long-term, and risk-informed strategies. The report calls for

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