The flooded Danube River in Budapest. Photo: sndr / Getty Images .

The EU-funded Horizon Europe DIRECTED project seeks to create disaster and climate resilient European societies by enhancing the interoperability of data systems, knowledge, and communication between stakeholders engaged in risk governance. It aims to harmonize their ability to act and exchange information by overcoming silos between different sectors of science and practice and leverages existing capacities to reduce fragmentation within the domains of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA).

The complexity of disaster risks and the effects of climate change across Europe are challenges which require systemic solutions and transformational learning toward resilience. To achieve this, interdisciplinary collaboration, inclusive governance, and strong relationships are required to enable more democratic risk management across scales. Furthermore, improved access to contextually relevant information is needed to support the ability of stakeholders and people to understand existing hazards and future scenarios through integrated climate data, therefore broadening the available options for managing current and future risks.

Against this backdrop, the DIRECTED project utilizes state-of-the art risk management tools and approaches and the principles of co-production to test and establish new best practices through Real World Labs placed in strategic locations across Europe. Stakeholders from the Rhine-Erft Region, Capital Region of Denmark, Emilia Romagna and the Danube Region will lead this process with the support of DIRECTED partners, in efforts to build bridges between different domains and disciplines toward interdisciplinary risk management solutions. The project will also support the development of an integrated Data Fabric, which connects currently available information and models under one umbrella. This will strengthen the synergies between disaster data and climate services and secures the availability of data to decision makers and practitioners on the ground.

Specifically, DIRECTED commitments seek to:

  • Overcome silos between technical and political authorities, sectors and sciences across all levels by improving communication between actors engaged in DRR and CCA.
  • Leverage existing synergies and reducing the fragmentation within these domains, including by supporting inclusive multi-level governance.
  • Promote multi-risk thinking that can address complexity, natural hazards and the adverse impacts of climate change to current and future risks. The project will develop and build upon a signature Risk-Tandem framework aimed at assessing, evaluation, managing and communicating complex risk scenarios in collaboration with stakeholders from the Real-World Labs.
  • Develop capacity and lasting real-world partnerships that will continue beyond the project’s scope.
  • Exploit the power of open data and open science, improving capabilities via the Data Fabric architecture to connect currently fragmented information (including knowledge and tools developed in the past, present and future research, as well as current innovation initiatives).

The DIRECTED project provides an opportunity to advance several signature areas of SEI research regarding co-production, climate services and knowledge management.

It will advance the Tandem framework and related guidance to support the application of Risk-Tandem.

knowledge

PLACARD

This project will establish a comprehensive coordination and knowledge exchange platform for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.

DIRECTED will also develop and scale up the Connectivity Hub  by linking to the Data Fabric architecture.