During his visit to the GADRI Secretariat on 15 May 2025, Prof. Peter Sammonds, Professor of Geophysics and Climate Risks, Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences, University College London was invited to deliver a lecture to the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University faculty and student.

Details and abstract of the lecture are given below.

Title: Climate and Natural Hazard Risks

Abstract:

The climate is in transition. People are calling for a 'just transition' and for 'climate justice'. But what do these terms mean? Transition to what? And what even is progress?

Those calling for radical change, such as Naomi Klein in 'This Changes Everything' or Kate Raworth in 'Doughnut Economics', point to the threats from extreme hazards. But the focus needs to be on risk:

• Hazard risk is made up of the components of the hazard, exposure to the hazard, vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
• To address risk, we fundamentally need to address vulnerability, in all its dimensions.
• A multi-hazard risk approach is needed as climate driven hazards cannot be treated separately.

In this talk we examine our current pathway and what actions are needed to reduce disaster risks as the economy and society re-structure. We cannot divorce our current situation from historically how we have got here. This means understanding and addressing inequality, exploitation, environmental degradation and colonial legacies.

There is human agency in public policy, corporate investments and personal choice on how to address vulnerability to hazard risks. This is key to the managing the transition. But it is important to look at real data, real lived experiences and primary sources of information as we need to get behind the headlines and social media comment in order to plan from the future we want.

Click here to view the video of the lecture.