Playing the Risk Game: Co-developing a do-it-yourself tool for hyperlocal climate and disaster risk assessment

Effective disaster risk reduction and climate action are contingent upon precise, or at a minimum, functional climate and disaster risk assessments. However, these assessments are predominantly conducted by scientists and technologists and are often regarded as their exclusive domain. As a result, professionals and practitioners from other sectors, such as cultural heritage, depend on these technical inputs, which may be complex and challenging to interpret without specialized knowledge.

This side event seeks to address this gap by presenting a "do-it-yourself" toolkit designed to enable users to independently conduct climate and disaster risk assessments, thereby decentralizing the risk assessment process and facilitating cross-sectoral applicability. The toolkit will be demonstrated through case studies illustrating its practical application, the outcomes achieved, and its role in enhancing resilience at the hyperlocal level.

Session objectives

• Empower diverse stakeholders: To enable individuals from various backgrounds, including non-experts, to understand and assess climate and disaster risks to heritage.
• Foster knowledge sharing and collaboration: To promote cross-disciplinary learning and collaboration among participants.
• Promote evidence-based decision-making: Encourage participants to utilize data and evidence to inform their risk assessments for their respective heritage sites.
• Strengthen community resilience: Help participants identify local needs and priorities, and develop targeted strategies that integrate scientific knowledge with local and indigenous practices to enhance
  community resilience.
• Advocate for policy change: Equip participants with the knowledge and tools necessary to advocate for policies that incorporate cultural heritage concerns into disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation efforts.
• Foster a culture of prevention: Promote a proactive approach to disaster risk reduction by encouraging participants to anticipate future risks and develop long-term strategies to mitigate climate
  induced disaster risks to heritage.