Natural hazards have caused ~100,000 fatalities and over €100 billion in economic losses in the EU since 2000. The last decade saw huge scientific advances in understanding natural hazard risks, and within the EU there has been a shift in practice from managing hazards to managing risks. Nevertheless, most research and policy still address risk from a single hazard, single sector, perspective. This presents obstacles for addressing real-world challenges faced by risk managers and other decision-makers. A paradigm shift is needed to successfully address these kinds of complex questions and challenges, in which science and practice move from a single hazard, single sector, risk perspective towards a multi-risk, multi-sector, systemic approach.
MYRIAD-EU’s vision is to catalyse the required paradigm shift, by co-developing the first harmonised framework for multi-hazard, multi-sector, systemic risk management. The overall aim is that by the end of MYRIAD-EU policy-makers, decision-makers, and practitioners will be able to develop forward-looking disaster risk management pathways that assess trade-offs and synergies of various strategies across sectors, hazards, and scales. The core scientific activity is to enable this through the co-development of cutting-edge knowledge, products and services. This is done together with stakeholders in five multi-scale Pilots (North Sea, Canary Islands, Scandinavia, Danube, Veneto). Each Pilot focuses on forward-looking DRM solutions to real-world sustainability challenges.
MYRIAD-EU is an EU-Horizon2020 funded project that is scheduled to start September 2021 and will run until 2025.
This research is conducted in collaboration with 17 partners from research institutes, NGOs, industry, and stakeholder representatives from all over Europe.
Contact information: Prof. Philip Ward (project lead) and Dr Marleen de Ruiter (project manager).