A Brief Report on ICSU ROAP Meetings: April 2018

Inter Regional Office Meeting

The ICSU Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) invited ROAP and ROA to an inter-regional office meeting from 9 to 12 April 2018 in Cartagena, Colombia. ICSU Executive Director, Heide Hackman, ICSU Operations Director, Charles Erkelens, ISSC Executive Director, Mathieu Denis and ISSC Programme Coordinator, Sarah Moore were also in attendance.

The meeting was convened to deliberate on the regional governance structure and strategy in the context of the upcoming merger of ICSU and ISSC, which will bring together the current members of ISSC and ICSU under the banner of the International Science Council (ISC). The new organisation will include 40 international scientific unions and associations and more than 140 national and regional organisations, consisting mainly of national academies and research councils.

9th Steering Group Meeting on Natural Hazards and Disaster Risks (SGNHDR)

A Steering Group Meeting on Natural Hazards and Disaster Risks (SGNHDR) was held in Kuala Lumpur from 23 to 24 April 2018.

Chaired by Professor James Terry, the Steering Group’s mission is to promote the scientific study of natural hazards and disaster risk to ensure human resilience to disasters in the Asia-Pacific region. Also in attendance were Professor Qunli Han of IRDR (via Skype), Professor Joy Jacqueline Pereira and Dr Nurfashareena from SEADPRI UKM, and Nurhanani Zainuddin from the International Bureau of ASM.

In light of the upcoming merger, the meeting was intended to discuss on the future directions of the Steering Group with better incorporation of the social sciences.

Among other topics deliberated include the vital need to identify, interact and collaborate with other organisations and partners in the region and to better align with ICSU’s flagship program: IRDR. Input from other organisations such as DBAR and UNISDR are vital in ensuring a more comprehensive understanding of the priorities and the efforts related to DRR in the region.

The Steering Group voiced the need to push for better transparency of and accessibility to data and information on DRR.