Development is not risk neutral; and if not well planned is likely to increase exposure and vulnerability by many prongs. Compound, multi-facet impacts of hazards due to interdependency and interconnectedness of fragile physical, social, economic, and environment domains have posed increasing challenges to sustain inclusive and equitable development for all, in the face of climate stress and uncertainty. Addressing disaster and climate risk with blanket approach might also end up exacerbating vulnerability of certain population segments, thus widening development disparity. At this critical juncture, it is important that effective measures to reduce disaster and climate risks, equitably and transparently, are made an intrinsic part of the policies and practices driving development in Asia and the Pacific.

The Risk Governance Department of ADPC aims to support countries in the region to strengthening risk governance systems, strategy, policy and planning, and institutional competency on their resilient development pathways. This includes improving disaster risk management systems, mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate resilience (CR) aspects and considerations into development planning processes and implementation, enhancing synergy and coherent actions across multi-layer risk governance and development sectors; and integrating risk in investment decisions and public finance. We also provide technical support to national and local governments, communities, and private sector organizations to make strides in establishing innovative, evidence-based and tested methods, tools and practices, for effective, inclusive and targeted risk reduction, employing multidisciplinary DRR and CR knowhow.

Risk Governance as a concept emphasizes the importance of involving all segments of society, including governments, academia, civil society organizations, the private sector, media, and the political leadership. ADPC's Risk Governance framework also puts gender and diversity at the heart of DRR and CR and enhances risk reduction through better understanding and addressing differential vulnerability and capacity. The department aims to make this as a priority by enhancing inclusive and meaningful participation of women and marginalized groups into risk governance; promoting collection and use of sex-age-disability-disaggregated (SADD) data for risk analysis; and formulating policies and designing plans and programs that meet varying needs and priorities of diverse groups and stakeholders. Our department also serves as a machinery to promote integration of gender and diversity into DRR and CR technical disciplines and practices across ADPC thematic thrusts, technical services and joint initiatives with partners and stakeholders. 

We also work to improve regional and cross-boundary cooperation for DRR and CR. Through regional mechanisms and platforms, we support in building and sustaining momentum to achieve coherent policy and strategy, amplifying good practices through south-south knowledge exchange and sharing of lesson learned, as well as leveraging and facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration and potential partnership among countries and a wide array of DRR and CR stakeholders and development partners in Asia and the Pacific.