Rethinking risk in times of COVID-19

Hagenlocher, Michael, Banerjee, Sumana, Bermudez-Zambrano, Antonella D., Cotti, Davide, Hassel, Jonathan, Kirsch-Wood, Jenty, Masys, Anthony J., Nawawi, Prasetyo, Yanu E., Rana, Sohel, Rimmert, Marlene, Roy, Prottoy, Schuetze, Simon, Shekhar, Himanshu, Sitati, Asha, Sodogas, Victor A., Sparkes, Edward, Surtiari, Ayu G.K., Valdiviezo-Ajila, Angel and Werners, Saskia E. (2022). Rethinking risk in times of COVID-19. United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRRR).

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    Author Hagenlocher, Michael
    Banerjee, Sumana
    Bermudez-Zambrano, Antonella D.
    Cotti, Davide
    Hassel, Jonathan
    Kirsch-Wood, Jenty
    Masys, Anthony J.
    Nawawi
    Prasetyo, Yanu E.
    Rana, Sohel
    Rimmert, Marlene
    Roy, Prottoy
    Schuetze, Simon
    Shekhar, Himanshu
    Sitati, Asha
    Sodogas, Victor A.
    Sparkes, Edward
    Surtiari, Ayu G.K.
    Valdiviezo-Ajila, Angel
    Werners, Saskia E.
    Title Rethinking risk in times of COVID-19
    Publication Date 2022-05-19
    Place of Publication Bonn
    Publisher United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRRR)
    Pages 32
    Language eng
    Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has been tremendously difficult for many people across the globe. What was initially viewed as a health crisis affected societies to their core, many of which were already grappling with the devastating effects of climate change, as well as other challenges such as political instability and conflict. While each of these crises has its own identifiable causes, the increasingly interconnected nature of our world means that these shocks or hazards and the knock-on effects from them cannot be viewed in isolation. Indeed, the number of record-breaking disasters witnessed over the past years and their cascading effects across sectors and borders have illuminated those interconnections as never before. Similarly, interconnections became very visible whenCOVID-19 started to spread around the globe. The unfolding pandemic prompted a range of policy measures to limit the spread of the virus and avoid health systems becoming overwhelmed. Yet the effects of these measures, including stay-at-ho-me orders and shutdown of public life, while highly important to prevent health system collapse and reduce COVID-19 fatalities, hit the most vulnerable the hardest. Underlying vulnerabilities such as poverty, precarious jobs in the informal economy, lack of access to education and, structural gender biases were exacerbated by the pandemic. This report sheds light on the complexity of risks in a highly interconnected world, and present lessons for risk management. Focusing on COVID-19, it shows how, through the interconnectedness of societies and the underlying vulnerabilities within them, the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic have revealed the systemic nature of risk. Through a case study approach, it demonstrates how the pandemic triggered a multitude of impacts far beyond the direct health crisis, including jobless-ness, debt, civil and domestic violence and the derailment of their children’s education, among many others. In many locations, women suffered disproportionately, whether as a result of bias in employment patterns or other pre-existing gender biases in society. Drawing on insights from different case studies across the world, this report also offers lessons from the pandemic for understanding risk more systemically, and presents recommendations for risk management moving forward.
    UNBIS Thesaurus RISK MANAGEMENT
    Keyword Systemic risk
    Cascading risk
    COVID-19
    Conceptual Model
    Copyright Holder UNU-EHS and UNDRRR
    Copyright Year 2022
    Copyright type All rights reserved
    DOI 10.53324/WSKW1341
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    Created: Thu, 19 May 2022, 00:40:43 JST by Aarti Basnyat on behalf of UNU EHS