DIGITAL FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN PUBLIC A CHANGING CLIMATE GOODS M A RCH 2 0 2 3 © 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved. This work is a joint product of the staff of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction (GFDRR) administered by The World Bank in collaboration with the staff from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. 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The risk of claims resulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re-use a component of the work, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that re- use and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not limited to, tables, figures, or images. All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Design: Estudio Relativo TOC. TABLE OF CONTENTS E.S. 1. 2. EXECUTIVE INTRODUCTION 7 DEFINING DIGITAL SUMMARY 4 PUBLIC GOODS 9 Acknowledgments 6 Public good 10 Open-source software 10 Open data 10 3. 4. Open standards 10 Open models 11 Open access 11 A BRIEF CHALLENGES Digital commons 11 HISTORY IN ADVANCING Community 11 OF DIGITAL Personal data 12 DIGITAL PUBLIC PUBLIC GOODS 17 GOODS FOR 5. Effective funding DISASTER mechanisms 18 RISK Reforming government REDUCTION 13 IT rules 18 THE ROLES OF Managing technology GOVERNMENTS projects 19 AND Collaborating with INTERNATIONAL new stakeholders 19 ORGANIZATIONS 23 Upholding ethics and privacy 19 International Adapting to organizations 24 new technologies 20 Governments 25 Academia 26 Civil society 26 6. 7. Media 26 Private sector 27 Digital communities 27 LIST OF EPILOGUE: DIGITAL PUBLIC CONTRIBUTIONS GOODS OF GFDRR AND FOR DISASTER UNDRR 33 RISK REDUCTION  30 Executive Summary DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4 E.S. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TOC Executive Summary DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5 Understanding and managing disaster risk has never been so urgent nor so complex. Climate change is modifying the intensity and frequency of climate-related hazards such as droughts and floods. Combined with rapid urbanization, such changes are also leading to larger populations being exposed to these hazards. Disaster risk reduction in that changing context requires informed decisions based on an understanding of the many dimensions of risk; from socioeconomic and physical vulnerabilities to hazard characteristics, and to the profound ways climate change affects them. It also requires informed actions, based on shared ownership of the disaster risk reduction measures and disaster responses, including through localized knowledge and skills. The United Nations, through its “Roadmap for Digital Cooperation”, has called for global efforts to encourage and invest in the creation and protection of digital public goods to help respond to societal challenges, including climate change. Digital public goods are software, data, models, platforms, tools, standards, and other contents that are available in digital form and openly available to the public. Investments in digital public goods can transform the way people act on disaster risk reduction and allow for innovation and global collaboration. This note encourages the creation, promotion, use, and protection of Digital public goods to increase the availability of resources relevant to disaster risk reduction for different populations. It argues that international organizations and governments have a leading role to play in coordinating with other stakeholders to ensure the technologies will benefit those who need them the most. TOC Executive Summary DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This publication was prepared jointly by staff at the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Pierre Chrzanowski (Disaster Risk Management Specialist), Mira Gupta (Program Design Consultant) and Stuart Fraser (Disaster Risk and Catastrophe Analytics Consultant) of GFDRR, and Jenty Kirsch-Wood (Head of Global Risk Analysis and Reporting), Adam Fysh (Program Management Officer, Global Risk Analysis and Reporting) and Tsuguki Ishio (Associate Expert, Global Risk Analysis and Reporting) of UNDRR contributed to this briefing note. The briefing note benefited from technical feedback and guidance provided by Sara Ballan (Senior Digital Development Specialist), Celine Ramstein (Climate Change Specialist), Alistair Norris (Financial Sector Consultant) from the World Bank, as well as Animesh Kumar (Head of Bonn Office) from UNDRR, Justin Ginnetti (Senior Officer, Information Management and Risk Analysis) from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Nick Moody, Coordinator of the IDF Risk Modelling Steering Group (RMSG). Lucy Harris (Co-Lead of the Digital Public Goods Alliance) from UNICEF also provided valuable inputs. In addition, the GFDRR team wishes to thank the following colleagues: Edward Anderson (Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, GFDRR) for his support and the inclusion of this work in the Digital Earth Partnership, as well as Niels Holm-Nielsen (GFDRR Practice Manager) and Bernice K. Van Bronkhorst (Global Director for Urban, Resilience and Land, World Bank) for their leadership and guidance. The GFDRR team also benefited from the contributions of Emma Phillips (Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank), Ana Bucher (Senior Climate Change Specialist, World Bank), Rochelle Glenene O’Hagan (Data Scientist, World Bank) and Vivien Deparday (Senior Urban Specialist, World Bank) who reviewed a preliminary internal version of this document. Finally, the authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the many participants who engaged in the workshop co-organized by GFDRR and UNDRR in November 2021, on “Advancing Digital Public Goods for Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction”. The insights and fruitful discussion from that forum were valuable in shaping the content of this publication. TOC Introduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 1. INTRODUCTION The growth of the disaster and climate risk analysis has largely taken place through the development of proprietary models and data only accessible to a restricted group of users. However, core digital assets have received a push early this century to open access so that larger populations can benefit from their use as public goods. This includes: (i) data used to produce evidence on past disasters or climatic conditions; (ii) models used by scientists to run future climate risk scenarios; (iii) technology and standards for disaster risk modeling; and (iv) crowdsourced maps created by volunteers and used by governments to prepare for and respond to crises. In the meantime, advances in digital access, computing power, machine learning, and low-cost devices provide an unprecedented opportunity for scaling-up action on disaster risk reduction. Such efforts could benefit populations in all regions of the world by providing more accurate and localized information and allowing decision-making processes to be more transparent and inclusive. TOC Introduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Digital public goods refer to open-source software, open data, open artificial intelligence (AI) models, open standards, and other digital content that are freely or openly available to the public. Anyone can enjoy digital public goods without preventing or excluding their use by others. Therefore, a concerted global effort to create, promote, make accessible, and protect digital public goods is critical for achieving disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. This briefing note aims to promote and explore ways that digital public goods can support disaster risk reduction. It starts by providing a series of definitions and historical context, before delving into the prevailing trends and opportunities that promote the use of open resources to support disaster risk reduction. The target audience for this note includes governments, international organizations, and other institutions that might want to play a role in advancing digital public goods. While the note focuses on disaster risk reduction— preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk—it also addresses the broader aspects of resilience and climate change adaption and might be of interest to practitioners or decision makers in those fields. Finally, this briefing note is a result of a collaboration between the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) with inputs from 40 people gathered through a virtual workshop in November 2021. While short and concise, this paper aims to inspire more discussions and actions at the nexus of digital technologies, disaster risk management, and international development. DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS relevant information and awareness dissemination of disaggregated data, AND THE GLOBAL AGENDA for sustainable development and including by sex, age and disability, FOR DISASTER RISK lifestyles in harmony with nature.” as well as on easily accessible, up- REDUCTION to-date, comprehensible, science- The Sendai Framework 2015 –2030 based, non-sensitive risk information, The relevance of digital public goods is an international agreement that complemented by traditional is recognized in the global agenda for was adopted in 2015 by UN Member knowledge.” disaster risk reduction. States. The framework aims to achieve the substantial reduction The Paris Agreement is an The Sustainable Development Goals of disaster risk and losses in lives, international treaty on climate change (SDGs) are a collection of global goals livelihoods, and health, and in the adopted in 2015. It covers climate established in 2015, to be achieved economic, physical, social, cultural, change mitigation, adaptation, and by 2030. The SDGs were defined and and environmental assets of persons, finance. In its preamble, the Paris ratified by the United Nations General businesses, communities, and Agreement on climate change Assembly to attain a better and more countries over the next 15 years. affirms “the importance of education, sustainable future for all. Several According to the Sendai Framework, training, public awareness, public SDGs call for greater access to “Disaster risk reduction requires a participation, public access to information and digital technologies. multi-hazard approach and inclusive information and cooperation at For instance, Goal 12.8 is “(to) ensure risk-informed decision-making all levels.” ■ that people everywhere have the based on the open exchange and TOC Defining Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 2. DEFINING DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS The United Nations report on “Digital Cooperation”1 defines digital public goods as “open-source software, open data, open artificial intelligence models, open standards and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable international and domestic laws, standards and best practices and do no harm”.1 The term “public” is also often used in contrast to the terms “commercial” or “proprietary” where the rights to access, use, and share are limited through a license agreement, generally obtained for a fee. Because of their digital nature, digital public goods cost little to replicate and make available to all—provided users have access to the internet. TOC Defining Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 PUBLIC GOOD OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE A public good is a product or service that anyone may access or benefit from without excluding Open-source software (OSS) is a type of computer or diminishing its benefit to others. Public software for which the source code is released infrastructure, such as roads and railways, or public under an open license, enabling anyone to use, services, such as education or emergency services study, change and distribute it. From the software are examples of public goods. Scientific knowledge used to run web servers to the operating systems is another—once scientific articles are published in of mobile phones, open-source software is behind the public domain, anyone can access them without many of the applications used in our daily life. In excluding others. the disaster risk field, open-source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software such as QGIS or PostGIS are widely used to perform geospatial analyses and share the resulting maps and visualizations online, often through open-source data hosting platforms. OPEN DATA OPEN STANDARDS Open data are data that are available for anyone Open standards are a set of established to access, download, and use with appropriate requirements or definitions that are made openly software. It is also unrestricted by intellectual available and are developed through a collaborative property limitations. Therefore, anyone can re-use and a consensus-driven process. Standards in or share the data for any purpose and without cost disaster risk reduction can define many things, from or other structural barriers. Open data relevant approaches to risk assessment to the terminology to disaster risk reduction can be found on global describing different hazards, and the relationship open data catalogues such as the World Bank Data between them. Open standards can also apply to Catalogue2 or on government geoportals such as in data. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) is Bangladesh3 or Haiti.4 an example of a standards organization working to make geospatial information and services interoperable and easy to re-use.5 TOC Defining Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11 OPEN MODELS OPEN ACCESS Models are mathematical representations of Open access refers to the availability of scientific a system that can be used to understand and publications on the web, free of charge and without simulate how it functions. By extension, open barriers to access or re-use. Open access aims models are any model and its source code that to promote the sharing of scientific material and are openly available for anyone to re-use. Typical the wider dissemination of knowledge within the models for research into disaster and climate risk scientific community and to the public.7 A similar include climate models or catastrophe risk models principle was developed for scientific data and that are used to assess some aspects of risk based is known under the acronym FAIR for “findable, on given hazards, exposure, and vulnerability accessible, interoperable and reusable’’.8 inputs. Open models are a significant collaborative effort that often require ongoing engagement of all contributors. An example of an open model is the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), a collaborative framework designed to improve knowledge of climate change.6 DIGITAL COMMONS COMMUNITY One specific type of digital public good is digital In the context of digital public goods, communities commons where the ownership and governance are usually defined as group of people and model are spread across multiple stakeholders. organizations with a shared interest to build Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap (OSM) are well- and use a digital good, such as software, which known examples of digital commons. They can be shared in return with anyone inside or both function with a central governance body outside of the community. A strong community dedicated to maintaining the hardware, software, is often a good indication of the maturity and and standards enabling the contribution of the sustainability of a digital public good. Developing community to the platform, the digital common. and maintaining communities of users and OSM, a crowdsourced digital map, has become a contributors around digital public goods is often as key resource for humanitarian and development important as the development of the digital public organizations, helping them generate maps in data- goods themselves. scarce environments. TOC Defining Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 PERSONAL DATA Personal data are any information that relate to an identified or identifiable living individual. In many jurisdictions, personal data are protected through data privacy laws. Digital public goods should adhere to privacy laws and their owners should ensure they cannot harm individuals. OPEN RISK DATA data standard. It provides a unique Finally, Sendai Framework-related STANDARDS identification number for some terminologies and indicators e disaster events. Proposed by the provide a common denominator to Several initiatives have been Asian Disaster Reduction Centre understand and measure losses and launched that promote greater (ADRC), the GLIDE number has been damages and assess disaster risk data interoperability in disaster risk adopted by several organizations reduction progress. These have a reduction. The Risk Data Library generating information on disaster universal application as they have (RDL) standard by GFDRRa is one events such as the Centre for undergone an intergovernmental of those efforts. It makes risk data Research on the Epidemiology of process of development and adoption easier to find, access and exchange Disasters (CRED) and the United by the UN General Assembly. by providing a common data Nations Office for the Coordination of standard for schema, metadata and Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).c NOTES: file formats of hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and risk data used in “The Sendai Hazard Definition a. https://riskdatalibrary.org/ disaster risk assessments. and Classification Review Technical b. https://oasislmf.org/open-data- Report and Hazard Information standards The Open Data Standards (ODS) Profiles: Supplement” undertaken c. https://glidenumber.net/glide/ initiative b curated by Oasis is another by UNDRR and the International public/search/search.jsp example of standardization efforts. Science Council is another piece of d. https://www.undrr.org/ The project developed the Open the open data standard framework publication/hazard-definition-and- Exposure Data (OED) and Open for disaster risk reduction. It provides classification-review Results Data (ORD) standards a dictionary and classification of e. https://www.preventionweb. to support application of open hazards in support of the disaster net/sendai-framework/sendai- risk modeling in an open-source risk community, factoring how our framework-indicators model-agnostic data format.  understanding of hazards is shifting ■ as we move from managing disasters The GLobal IDEntifier (GLIDE) as events to managing risks.d number is another type of open NOTES 1. United Nations, Report of the Secretary-General 7. A review by the UK Parliament of the causes of the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, June 2020. https:// Climatic Research Unit of East Anglia email controversy www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ (also known as “Climategate”) recommended to 2. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/home reinforce open access and right to access to information 3. https://geodash.gov.bd/ practices into scientific organizations to better address 4. https://haitidata.org/ with scientific disinformation and public controversy. 5. https://www.ogc.org/ See https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/ 6. https://www.wcrp-climate.org/wgcm- cmselect/cmsctech/444/444.pdf cmip#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20Coupled%20 8. https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201618 Model,in%20a%20multi%2Dmodel%20context TOC A brief history of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 3. A BRIEF HISTORY OF DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION The use of the term “digital public goods” in the field of disaster risk reduction is relatively new. However, it is rooted in the progress of computer and mathematical models that led to the development of hazard and catastrophe modeling software. The idea of quantifying Earth’s systems and sharing that knowledge to better predict natural hazards may have first appeared in a book by Lewis Fry Richardson, an English mathematician and meteorologist, who wrote in 1922: “Perhaps someday in the dim future it will be possible to advance the computations faster than the weather advances and at a cost less than the saving to mankind due to the information gained.” TOC A brief history of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 Decades later, in 1964, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the United States of America, established the first climate modeling group, laying the foundation for collaborative climate science. The understanding of climate change, its causes, risks, and the international consensus around them has been made possible owing to the advancements in climate modeling and the standards shared openly by the scientific community.1,2 Around the same period, methods for probabilistic analysis of seismic hazards were developed and in the 1970s and 1980s computer programs were created to run these analyses. Karen Clark, who started her career as a computer scientist in the 1980s, is often credited with having invented modern catastrophe risk models. While working at Commercial Union Assurance, she developed a probabilistic model to estimate hurricane losses along the coastlines of the United States and later published the first research paper on the topic (Clark 1986). Geospatial capabilities were also advancing at the same time, enabling spatial analysis of increasing amounts of geographic data. Subsequently, the development of the internet, coupled with advances in desktop applications for earth observation and access to cloud computing contributed to the growth of risk modelling companies. And later, these capabilities led to the development of open-source risk analysis frameworks (Mitchell-Wallace et al. 2017). The 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti is a pivotal moment in the use of digital technologies for disaster risk management. When the earthquake struck, responders were left with no map to coordinate the emergency response. Several satellite companies decided to share high resolution images of the damage. Then, volunteers from the OSM digital platform community used these images to trace the roads and buildings of Port-au-Prince, allowing a mapping effort—that would have ordinarily taken a year—to be completed in few weeks. The widespread use of the OSM platform for the 2010 Haiti earthquake response helped convince the international community that open data could play a critical role in disaster response and risk reduction. Finally, the first two decades of the 21st century have shown a dramatic increase in the number of satellites and drones collecting imagery of the Earth’s surface. Space agencies’ open data programs such as Landsat and Copernicus provide open access to immense and frequently updated image archives including historical snapshots of the Earth’s surface. AI algorithms can automatically transform this imagery into up-to-date and usable datasets describing land cover patterns and charting changes in urban growth. These new approaches can significantly expand the coverage and frequency of data collection while also lowering the costs and complexities of generating and accessing information. TOC A brief history of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 15 OPEN DISASTER RISK natural hazards. The models typically or from a single event. With climate MODELS AND PLATFORMS have four components: hazard, change, models are becoming more exposure, vulnerability, and loss. The complex. They integrate changing Disaster risk or catastrophe risk outputs quantify risk most typically frequency and severity of the models are computer programs used as estimates of financial loss, from a hazard, as well as include changes in to assess risks associated with some probabilistic set of hazard scenarios socioeconomic conditions. Disaster Vulnerability CLIMATE DEVELOPMENT Disaster Risk Natural Variability Weather Management and DISASTER Climate RISK Anthropogenic Events Climate Change Climate Change Adaptation Exposure Greenhouse Gas Emissions THE COMPONENTS OF CLIMATE RISKS. SOURCE: IPCC. 2012. Most of the (re)insurance and EXAMPLES OF OPEN RISK MODELS → OpenQuake by the Global financial industry interested in AND OPEN RISK MODELING Earthquake Modelling Foundation property catastrophe risk use PLATFORMS INCLUDE: (GEM) offers a suite of open- proprietary or commercial risk source software for modeling models, or both together for business → The Oasis Loss Modeling earthquake risks and accessing purposes. However, most developing Framework (Oasis LMF) is an GEM products. countries have fewer commercially open loss modeling framework → The CAPRA (Probabilistic Risk available risk models. developed by and for the Assessment) platform was insurance community. Oasis developed by the Center for Therefore, the development of LMF allows users to access over Coordination of Natural Disaster open catastrophe risk models and 90 models from many model Prevention in Central America, in underlying hazard, exposure, and providers in the same framework. collaboration with UNDRR, World vulnerability data—as well as impact Oasis LMF can simulate how Bank and the Inter-American data to validate the models—can play insurance policies can mitigate Development Bank (IADB). CAPRA a critical role in those places where losses and is now being extended is a modular software platform the insurance sector has not yet to provide capabilities beyond for probabilistic risk analysis invested in model development. financial loss estimates.a related to some natural hazards. CAPRA supports the design of risk financing strategies.b, c TOC A brief history of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 → CLIMADA (CLIMate ADAptation) is → The Global Risk Modelling NOTES: open-source software developed Alliance (GRMA)f was launched by ETH Zurich, which integrates in June 2022 by the Insurance a. https://oasislmf.org/ hazard, climate scenarios, Development Forum.g It supports b. https://www.gfdrr.org/sites/ exposure, and vulnerability to the widespread adoption of default/files/solving-the-puzzle- assess risk. CLIMADA allows open disaster risk models report.pdf users to quantify impact with and platforms for public good c. https://catrisktools.oasishub.co/ and without climate adaptation The GRMA is a public–private records/?selected_facets=&q=free measures and performs benefit– partnership designed to improve d. https://wcr.ethz.ch/research/ cost analysis of those measures. risk understanding in climate climada.html d The CATSIM (catastrophe vulnerable countries by assisting e. https://previous.iiasa.ac.at/web/ simulation) model was designed them in building local capability. home/research/researchPrograms/ by the International Institute for It combines open modeling RISK/CATSIM.en.html Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) principles and open risk data f. https://www.grma.global/ to help policy makers, particularly standards with private sector g. In partnership with the V20 in developing countries, devise knowledge to increase access to Group of Finance Ministers, and public financing strategies in risk finance. funded by the InsuResilience both the pre- and post-disaster Solutions Fund contexts.e ■ NOTES 1. Carbon Brief, Timeline: The History of Climate Modelling, January 2018, https://www.carbonbrief.org/timeline-history-climate-modelling 2. Despite the success of climate models, the infrastructure that supports them remains often difficult to finance. See: The Future of the ESFG, November 2020, http://www.bnlawrence. net/computing/bigdata/2020/11/the-future-of-the-esgf/ REFERENCES Clark, K. A formal approach to catastrophe risk assessment and management. 1986, http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download? doi=10.1.1.137.75&rep=rep1&type=pdf Mitchell-Wallace, K., Jones, M., Hillier, J., and Foote, M. 2017. Natural Catastrophe Risk Management and Modelling - A Practitioner’s Guide. TOC Challenges in advancing Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 17 4. CHALLENGES IN ADVANCING DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS Inadequate funding mechanisms are often cited as the main challenges for developing new digital public goods. The deployment, uptake, and maintenance of those products also come with their own challenges. Governments and international organizations often share concerns regarding the quality, liability, or potential misuse of information and technologies when released in the public domain. All these elements should be addressed upfront when considering support to a digital public good. TOC Challenges in advancing Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 18 EFFECTIVE FUNDING MECHANISMS Digital public goods remain difficult to finance by governments and international organizations.1 They tend to be excluded from traditional funding mechanisms going through official development assistance (ODA) and that are primarily targeting country investment projects. Dedicated resource-pooling mechanisms, such as multidonor trust funds, and proper guidance on public procurements are a way to re-channel part of the funding toward public goods. Such types of funds can also help raise money from other stakeholders such as global charities and philanthropic organizations that may have fewer difficulties investing in digital public goods. The requirement for many public services to finance themselves to develop digital goods is another issue. This often results in those agencies needing to sell their products instead of releasing them in the public domain. REFORMING GOVERNMENT IT RULES Governments seeking to deploy or contribute to global digital public goods often encounter a common dilemma. Their procurement rules are exclusively oriented toward the purchase of commercial, proprietary software. As a result, governments sometimes find themselves trapped in vendor-locking situations, which make it difficult to change course or try another product or service. More governments are developing open-source strategies to circumvent the hurdle, integrating requirements, or promoting the use of open-source and interoperable software by their own departments through the publication of recommended open-source standard technologies and applications. TOC Challenges in advancing Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 19 MANAGING TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS Governments and international organizations often fail to account for the transactional costs of maintenance, management, and administration of technology projects, including those associated with digital public goods. This can be improved by ensuring that project team members have the right technical skills and mandate to advance digital public good technologies.2 Training programs in digital skills offered to civil servants is another element to consider as with exposing students to alternative digital technologies. Then, governments are trained for more flexible approaches in their technology choices. COLLABORATING WITH NEW STAKEHOLDERS Trust of governments and public authorities in digital public goods is another challenge for their widespread adoption. Despite its recognized quality3 and effective use by international and humanitarian organizations, the OSM platform still faces some skepticism by governments and national mapping agencies owing to concerns about data quality, liability, and responsibility. Nevertheless, new forms of partnership between digital commons and national institutions are being explored and documented,4 laying the groundwork for a greater adoption of digital public goods by governments. UPHOLDING ETHICS AND PRIVACY Governments and international organizations grapple with fundamental ethical questions about open -source and open data, with issues such as privacy, bias, liability, and censorship.5 These are the same questions that must apply to commercial models but are used to question the practicality of digital public goods. Some organizations are taking a proactive approach to data ethics, including UN Global Pulse, which has published a 9-point guidance note on “Data Privacy, Ethics and Protection”6 and UNDP, where they promote eight data TOC Challenges in advancing Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 20 principles for data ethics and protection.7 The Open Data Institute has similarly developed a data ethics toolkit for people and organizations who collect, share, or use open data.8 ADAPTING TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES Advances in computing power and data availability have facilitated the development of new AI methods across a range of domains, which offer great potential to strengthen disaster risk reduction. AI, when combined with data inputs such as drone imagery, offers a way to bring accurate geographic data for more informed management of hazards such as coastal and pluvial flooding. Tasks such as identifying buildings from satellite imagery are well-established within the technical repertoire of machine learning researchers and global tech firms. Yet this technology often fails to translate effectively into low-income settings, because many major global datasets are not adapted to mapping houses and roads in unplanned settlements that a different physical form and appearance. The results of the GFDRR Open Cities AI Challenge9 clearly demonstrate a meaningful potential and relevance for AI to contribute to our efforts to understand and manage climate and disaster risk. Creation of processes to develop more accurate elevation data, more reliably delineate flood extents, or improve forecast-based financing mechanisms constitute other areas of work that help disaster risk reduction. OPEN WEATHER DATA AND The trend is currently reversing with The meteorological landscape is still SERVICES meteorological services such as affected by restrictions, particularly NOAA, MetOffice UK, Meteo France, in developing countries. The World Hydromet services are critical Environment Canada, or the European Meteorological Organization (WMO) institutions that provide real-time Centre for Medium-Range Weather has been supporting data rescue weather, water, early warning, and Forecasts (ECMWF) increasingly projects to digitize paper records climate information products to end providing data and models as digital and ensure their sustainable digital users. Historically, the development public goods. Private companies like archiving.f While institutional barriers, of national meteorological services OpenWeatherMap also offer part of capacities and funding models has been marked by a culture of their weather data through a share- remain the main challenges, data international cooperation and data alike license.b Data includes short- revolution represents an opportunity exchange. However, that changed in term forecasts and historical data, for hydromet services to modernize the 1980s with many publicly funded made available through a public API.c through the adoption of open data national meteorological organizations In addition, open hardware weather policies and the integration of new adopting a commercial approach, stations such as those used to feed data sources. g restricting access to their data the OpenWindMap websited provide an and services. a opportunity to crowdsource weather data and provide more granular information in specific locations.e TOC Challenges in advancing Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 21 SAMPLE OF FREE WEATHER SERVICE VISUAL DATA FROM THE GOVT. OF THE USA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. SOURCE: NOAA, PUBLIC DOMAIN. NOTES: b. A share-alike license requires copies curated/en/342901614809536537/ or adaptations of the work to be Open-Data-A-Path-to-Climate- a. This resulted in the passing released under the same or similar Resilience-and-Economic- of a resolution by the World license as the original Development-in-South-Asia Meteorological Organization in c. https://openweathermap.medium. f. https://public.wmo.int/en/our- 1995 trying to stop that trend and com/why-weather-data-should- mandate/what-we-do/observations/ return to a more open approach to be-open-and-nearly-free- data-rescue-and-archives data sharing. World Meteorological 9c330fe031be g. GFDRR, Investing in Digital Organization, Origin, Impact and d. https://www.openwindmap.org/ Hydrometeorological Data for Aftermath of WMO Resolution e. Open Data: A Path to Climate the Developing World, March 40, 2019, https://public.wmo. Resilience and Economic 2022, https://www.gfdrr.org/ int/en/resources/bulletin/origin- Development in South Asia? en/publication/investing-digital- impact-and-aftermath-of-wmo- (English). Washington, D.C.: hydrometeorological-data- resolution-40 World Bank Group. developing-world http://documents.worldbank.org/ ■ TOC Challenges in advancing Digital Public Goods DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 22 NOTES 1. See https://www.newamerica.org/digital-impact-governance-initiative/events/un-general- assembly-2020/ 2. For best practices on budgeting and overseeing tech projects, see the guide from the U.S. General Services Administration, Technology Transformation Services, 18F, De-risk technology projects, https://derisking-guide.18f.gov/state-field-guide/budgeting-tech/ 3. Anahid Basiri, Mike Jackson, Pouria Amirian, Amir Pourabdollah, Monika Sester, Adam Winstanley, Terry Moore and Lijuan Zhang (2016) Quality assessment of OpenStreetMap data using trajectory mining, Geo-spatial Information Science, 19:1, 56- 68, DOI: 10.1080/10095020.2016.1151213 4. GFDRR, Identifying success factors in crowdsourced geographic information use in government, 2018. https://opendri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/2018.05.07_ Crowdsourcing_Policy_Brief-WEB.pdf 5. Cooper A.K., Coetzee S. (2020) On the Ethics of Using Publicly Available Data. In: Hattingh M., Matthee M., Smuts H., Pappas I., Dwivedi Y.K., Mäntymäki M. (eds) Responsible Design, Implementation and Use of Information and Communication Technology. I3E 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12067. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030- 45002-1_14 6. https://unsdg.un.org/resources/data-privacy-ethics-and-protection-guidance-note-big- data-achievement-2030-agenda 7. https://data.undp.org/data-principles/ 8. https://theodi.org/article/the-data-ethics-canvas-2021/ 9. https://opendri.org/open-cities-ai-challenge/#:~:text=The%20Open%20Cities%20AI%20 Challenge%20has%20two%20participation%20tracks%3A,spatial%20resolutions%2C%20 and%20imaging%20conditions TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 23 5. THE ROLES OF GOVERNMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS A global effort is needed to identify and advance the creation and uptake of high value digital public goods for disaster risk reduction. International organizations1 and governments have a leading role to play in ensuring those technologies and knowledge are being made available to benefit those who need them the most, while ensuring they do no harm. TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 24 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS In some circumstances, international organizations lead the research, development, and creation phases of public goods. This could be in the case where a gap has been identified, and where no similar products or tools exist on the market that align with the objectives of the organization. For instance, the DesInventar open-source software developed by UNDRR is used by countries to report on disaster events and their impact. The software consolidates all the recorded data in a global disaster loss database.2 The Humanitarian Data Exchange3 is another example of digital public goods created and funded by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for the purpose of providing humanitarian data. International organizations may also finance and procure digital public goods because of a clear benefit for their organization or its stakeholders. Investments of this type can also help reduce the exclusivity of existing goods by making them freely available to many more communities and users. For instance, the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) commissioned a landslide hazard assessment at a global scale, which is now available as open data on the catalogue of the World Bank.4 Another approach is when international organizations support development projects that contribute to existing digital public goods. One example is the Digital Works for Urban Resilience, a series of pilot activities financed by GFDRR to build local digital skills and generate income opportunities with the end goal of contributing to digital public goods for urban resilience. Pilot activities in Kenya contributed to the validation of the World Settlement Footprint 2019 (WSF-2019), a large geospatial dataset generated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which identifies built-up areas at a global scale.5 International organizations may develop or promote standards and best practices related to digital public goods. The case of the United Nations Statistics Division is illustrative. Its role includes the development of standards and norms for statistical activities. The UN Statistics Division hosts the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) and its Working Group on Geospatial Information and Services for Disasters.6 The INSPIRE Directive of the European Commission has been another important standard initiative in the field of spatial data infrastructure, with a specific theme dedicated to natural risk zones.7 TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 25 A relatively new addition is the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA),8 founded with a mission to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods. GOVERNMENTS While international organizations might be best placed to promote digital public goods and drive the necessary resources at the global level, governments have a critical role to play in the research and innovation phases, adopting them and regulating their use, and in acting as ambassadors. For instance, the decision of the Government of the United States of America and the European Union to release their satellite data in the public domain is directly aligned with the mission statement of their space programs.9, 10 Another example is the role of the Government of India in developing the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP). Anchored at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, and Tata Trusts, MOSIP was conceived as a response to the challenges of identification in developing countries.11 The software benefited from the support of the Government of India, which was also its primary beneficiary and user through the unique identification number project (Aadhar). Since then, other countries including Morocco, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Togo have started deploying the technology. The Government of Sierra Leone is another ambassador of digital public goods. Through its Directorate of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), Sierra Leone has put open source at the core of its innovation and digital strategy. DSTI is also playing a key role in engaging private sector and university communities to help build the technology that makes the implementation of digital public goods possible.12 One of the outcomes of this vision is #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign that used digital public tools to encourage tree cultivation in cities and reduce risks of landslides.13 Overall, governments around the world are increasingly encouraging the use of digital public goods. South Korea was the first country to adopt an open- source framework.14 In the United States of America, the use of open-source software and standards are recommended as a best practice for delivering TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 26 custom technology projects.15 Similarly, the European Commission has an open-source software strategy promoting the use of digital public goods by its Member States.16 ACADEMIA Universities and other research organizations serve as an important vanguard of new digital public goods. Their interest in promoting new modes of thinking, new tools, and new practices to reduce disaster risk make them allies in developing and using digital public goods. One flagship example is the role of the University of Oslo in developing the District Health Information Software (DHIS). DHIS is an open-source software platform for tracking healthcare data that is now used by more than 60 countries around the world. The development of the platform is coordinated by the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo, through a dedicated research action program with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the United States of America President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).17 CIVIL SOCIETY The Sendai Framework outlines the important role that civil society groups play in understanding and managing risk.18 The groups are sources of knowledge and practical experience to apply development plans. They are the front-line implementors and beneficiaries of plans for disaster risk reduction. They are the bedrock of cultural and behavioral change and are the primary advocates for all-of-society resilience in their own context. As much as possible all major stakeholder groups should be included in discussions on ethical creation, use, and maintenance of digital public goods. This is one of the recommendations of the “Responsible AI for Disaster Risk Management” report, a product of GFDRR together with Deltares and the University of Toronto, which highlighted concerns of ethics and responsibility in AI, and how early feedback and participatory mapping with local communities might help mitigate those biases.19 MEDIA Common values of transparency, exploration and investigation, and rapid prototyping unite journalism and the open-source movement. These common values have led to an impressive synergy between the media and open-source creators and supporters. Just as digital platforms in the 1990s allowed niches TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 27 of investigation and publishing to emerge and differentiate themselves from what had been a very controlled media landscape, so too have open resources for understanding the drivers of risk proliferated. Media can be useful allies in interrogating open data, enforcing ethical use, reporting on discoveries or advances, and connecting to new networks of users and contributors. PRIVATE SECTOR The private sector has unparalleled competency in identifying new business models and practices and was identified as a key partner in the Sendai Framework (UNDRR 2015) in transferring those practices to risk-informed investments and innovations for disaster risk management.19 Indeed, the Sendai Framework explicitly calls on business to: “share and disseminate knowledge, practices and non-sensitive data; and actively participate, as appropriate and under the guidance of the public sector, in the development of normative frameworks and technical standards that incorporate disaster risk management.” One such example is the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA), an initiative from the international insurance sector with the objective to offer more technologies and practical learning to countries. The Insurance Development Forum20 has been active in creating digital public goods for risk analytics, including the Open Data Transformation Framework supporting transformation of exposure data between data formats; CatRiskTools, an open catalogue of risk models; and the Risk Explorer Tool, an open educational parametric modelling tool; as well as supporting development of open risk models and data by others. DIGITAL COMMUNITIES Communities behind digital commons such as OpenStreetMap or Wikipedia should be considered critical partners for any international organization or government seeking to understand and leverage digital public goods. The OpenStreetMap platform is now widely accepted and used as a trusted platform by internal organizations, with intermediary organizations or projects such as Humanitarian OpenStreetMap, Map Actions or Missing Maps helping to fill the gaps in global knowledge. Some countries like France are exploring new forms of partnerships between national mapping agency or the electricity grid and the local OpenStreetMap community to improve or create new reference datasets.21, 22 TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 28 SATELLITE DATA AS of climate changes on territories or An example of an application derived DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS the evolution of urban areas exposed from the Copernicus program is the to hazards. Landsat data have been World Settlement Footprint (WSF) Governments worldwide are cited in more than 11,000 scientific by the German Aerospace Center increasingly adopting free and open articles to date. They also inspired (DLR). WSF provides information on data policy for Earth Observation developers to create open-source human settlements over time with (EO) data. While these programs do geospatial analysis tools used by the an unprecedented level of accuracy. not provide the same high-resolution geospatial community.b The most Those data are particularly useful for imagery as commercial products, recent Landsat satellites, Landsat 9, disaster risk reduction and climate they have become a key resource was launched in September 2021. change adaptation interventions. for tackling disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. More The Copernicus program is the The Group on Earth Observation innovations, tools and services are European Union’s Earth observation (GEO) is an international initiative taking advantage of free access to program managed by the European promoting open access to satellite government satellite data. Space Agency (ESA).c One of data. Founded in 2003, GEO is an the benefits of the Copernicus intergovernmental partnership Landsat program, a joint initiative by program, like Landsat, is that the working to improve the availability, the National Aeronautics and Space data and information produced access and use of open earth Administration (NASA) and the United are made available free of charge, observations, including satellite States Geological Survey (USGS), is allowing downstream services to be imagery, remote sensing and in situ the longest running open satellite developed. The first satellite of the data, to impact policy and decision data mission.a Launched in 1972, Copernicus program, Sentinel-1A, making in a wide range of sectors Landsat makes it possible for users was launched in April 2014. including climate actions and disaster to develop applications looking at risk reduction.d long-term patterns such as the effect WORLD SETTLEMENT FOOTPRINT OF NAIROBI IN 2019. Source: DLR (cc by-nc-nd 3.0). TOC The roles of governments and international organizations DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 29 NOTES 1. Including United Nations, International Financial Institutions, Intergovernmental Organization and Charities 2. https://www.desinventar.net/ 3. https://humdata.org/ 4. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/int/search/dataset/0037584/Global-landslide-hazard- map 5. Digital Works for Urban Resilience: Supporting African Youth: Rapid Pilot Phase (English). Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ en/099830012142142800/P171990044fb250f10b66502ebf997d2a1b 6. https://ggim.un.org/UNGGIM-wg5/ 7. https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/Themes/140/2892 8. https://digitalpublicgoods.net/ 9. ESA mission statement: “The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.” https://www.esa.int/ 10. NASA’s mission statement: “We develop and fund space technologies that will enable future exploration and benefit life on Earth.” https://www.nasa.gov/about/index.html 11. World Bank. 2019. Open Source for Global Public Goods. Identification for Development;. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge. worldbank.org/handle/10986/33401 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO 12. https://digitalpublicgoods.net/blog/series-part-3-meet-our-co-founder-sierra-leone/ 13. https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/freetownthetreetown-campaign-using- digital-tools-encourage-tree-cultivation 14. Sojung Lucia Kim and Thompson S.H. Teo, June 2013, Lessons for Software Development Ecosystems: South Korea’s e-Government Open Source Initiative, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289709312_Lessons_for_Software_ Development_Ecosystems_South_Korea’s_e-Government_Open_Source_Initiative 15. https://derisking-guide.18f.gov/ 16. https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/informatics/open-source-software-strategy_en 17. https://www.mn.uio.no/hisp/english/about/index.html 18. https://www.preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf 19. GFDRR, Responsible AI for Disaster Risk Management Working Group Summary, April 2021, https://www.gfdrr.org/en/publication/responsible-artificial-intelligence-disaster-risk- management 20. This work is conducted through the Risk Modelling Steering Group of the IDF; insdevforum.org/working-groups/rmsg/ 21. https://www.openstreetmap.fr/convention-dechange-de-donnees-entre-enedis-et- openstreetmap-france/ 22. https://www.ign.fr/la-demarche-geocommuns REFERENCES UNDRR. Sendai Framework. 2015. https://www.undrr.org/publication/sendai- framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030. Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. Sendai, Japan. March 18, 2015. TOC List of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 30 6. LIST OF DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION  Digital public goods’ tools and resources have the potential to transform the way people act on disaster while supporting innovation and collaboration globally. In compiling an illustrative list, we did not consider customized software platforms or applications but instead looked at generic digital public goods that are often missing or incomplete in developing countries. TOC List of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 31 LIST OF DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS. DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS TYPE POTENTIAL BENEFITS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION Data sharing platforms (open Increased availability and discoverability of Open-source software  data catalogs and geoportals)  disaster risk information online  Data science notebooks and Increased capacities to learn and conduct disaster Open-source software  libraries   risk analytics online  Geospatial data collection tools Increased capacities to collect disaster risk Open-source software  and platforms  information such as exposure or vulnerability data  Increased capacities to collect local inputs and Data labeling tools and platforms  Open-source software  knowledge into disaster risk and AI models  Catalogs or collections Improved access and understanding of of: Vulnerability data and Open data vulnerability data to include in models and of post-disaster loss databases, information gaps in geography and asset types and vulnerability/fragility to be addressed (includes structural damage and Open access functions  social vulnerability)  Catalogs or collections of: Open data Increased availability of data on physical assets Exposure datasets including exposed to hazards including their value and projections of change  Open model changes over time   Open data Increased availability of scenario data with which Catalogs or collections of: to model potential impacts of historical disasters hazard scenario data  and hypothetical extreme events  Open model Open data Loss datasets, following open Increased understanding and capacities to do data standards  disaster risk analytics  Open standard Increased understanding of past and current Meteorological observations data  Open data  weather and climate   Global hazard datasets Increased quality of disaster risk analytics at (including climate projections Open data  global or national level  when relevant)  TOC List of Digital Public Goods for Disaster Risk Reduction DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 32 DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS TYPE POTENTIAL BENEFITS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION Open data Increased availability of georeferenced disaster GIS Digital Commons risk information and capacities to respond to disaster events Open content Open data Increased availability and quality of online disaster and climate risk content to the public Non-GIS Digital commons  Open content (encyclopedia articles, images) in various languages  Open access Increased understanding and capacities to Online training modules on Open content  conduct disaster risk reduction activities and disaster risk reduction  disaster risk analytics  Increased capacities to learn and conduct disaster Disaster risk models Open model  risk assessments  Models for assessing costs Increased capabilities to assess and prioritize and benefits of disaster risk Open model  adaptation measures based on their reduction of reduction measures  risk and associated investment costs  Increased interoperability between disaster Disaster and climate risk data Open standard  risk information, disaster risk assessments and standards  disaster risk models  Disaster risk reduction and Shared understanding of disaster risk reduction climate change terminologies Open standard  terminologies including definition of disaster and definitions events and disaster risk reduction activities   TOC Epilogue: Contributions of GFDRR and UNDRR DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 33 7. EPILOGUE: CONTRIBUTIONS OF GFDRR AND UNDRR GFDRR and UNDRR are both longstanding contributors and users of digital technologies in disaster risk reduction and climate change. This briefing note recognizes efforts of both institutions and their willingness to work together and with other partners toward a more coordinated approach. TOC Epilogue: Contributions of GFDRR and UNDRR DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 34 GFDRR has supported the development and adoption of several digital public goods since 2009. One such example is GeoNode, an open-source software used to deploy and manage geospatial data platforms. GFDRR helped to develop features that are particularly applicable for disaster risk management in low connectivity settings. More than 100 different instances of GeoNode are deployed around the world,1 including government-owned platforms in Bangladesh, Dominica, Haiti, Malawi, and Sri Lanka with a strong focus on disaster risk management. The product has reached the level of maturity and recognition whereby many organizations consider it to be their platform of choice for geospatial content management and hosting. GFDRR also supported InaSAFE,2 a tool developed in partnership with the Australia Indonesia Fund for Disaster Reduction and the Government of Indonesia. InaSAFE, an extension of QGIS, enables disaster managers and planners to model the impact of floods, earthquakes, volcano, and tsunami scenarios on people and infrastructure. The contribution of GFDRR to digital public goods does not stop at the products themselves. Technical support for users and contributors, trainings, events, documentation, and users’ guides also play a key part in the way those tools are adopted and used. GFDRR also acts sometimes as a wholesale buyer, purchasing global hazard datasets to make them freely available to all or to reduce access restrictions. An example is the global landslide hazard layer,3 commissioned and funded by GFDRR to offer a publicly available aggregated hazard map that can help identify landslide hotspots during project preparation. A similar development model was followed to produce global extreme heat and wildfire hazard layers. In alignment with the World Bank Group, which launched its open data policy in 2010, GFDRR has been a strong advocate of open access to risk information. This formalized into the Open Data for Resilience Initiative (OpenDRI), an umbrella initiative created in 2011 that has supported more than 30 developing countries in sharing, collecting, and using open data for resilience purposes. OpenDRI provided technical assistance to government clients in countries including Niger, Tonga and Vietnam. OpenDRI also implemented its Open Cities initiative in three countries in South Asia and twelve countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to strengthen citizen engagement and local capacity in the development of open-source risk information. As a result of Open Cities Africa alone, more TOC Epilogue: Contributions of GFDRR and UNDRR DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 35 than 1,000,000 geographic features such as road segments or buildings have been mapped, and more than 600 young people have developed skills in digital cartography. Moving forward, GFDRR will continue to play a leading role in supporting digital public goods for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, starting with the Digital Earth Partnership—in collaboration with the European Space Agency. GFDRR has also been active in open standards, developing the Risk Data Library to promote greater interoperability in the field of disaster risk assessments and disaster risk models. UNDRR’s work in contributing to the advancement of digital public goods is rooted in the Sendai Framework and its foundational commitment to “promote real time access to reliable data, make use of space and in situ information, including geographic information systems (GIS), and use information and communications technology innovations to enhance measurement tools and the collection, analysis and dissemination of data.” 4 UNDRR is committed to using international cooperation and partnerships to facilitate technology transfer and access to non-sensitive data and information for decision makers. This extends to strengthening the utilization of such information by media and other stakeholders to understand and communicate risk. To support this, UNDRR coordinates global efforts to share good risk information and guide methodologies and standards for risk assessments, disaster risk modeling, and the use of data,4 and has championed digital public goods in line with the Sendai Framework. UNDRR is also active in promoting risk understanding, financing, and communication and has played a key role in convening and enabling the role of data, terminology, and standards that underpin a digital public good ecosystem. UNDRR is in the process of developing a new data strategy in line with the UNDRR’s Strategic Framework 2022–2025. The strategy is foundational to the organization’s core areas of data-centric service delivery including the Sendai TOC Epilogue: Contributions of GFDRR and UNDRR DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE E.S. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 36 Framework Monitoring, Global Risk Assessment Framework, disaster loss accounting, voluntary commitments, Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030), and other data-based products and tools. The objective is to ensure better approaches to data that will deliver better outcomes globally: (i) stronger decision making and policy advice; (ii) greater data access and sharing; (iii) improved data governance and collaboration; (iv) robust data protection and privacy; (v) enhanced efficiency across its operations; (vi) greater transparency and accountability; and (vii) better services for people and the planet. NOTES 1. Internal GFDRR Statistics, April 2019 2. http://www.inasafe.org/ 3. Global Landslide Hazard Map, World Bank Development Data Hub, https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/global-landslide-hazard-map 4. https://www.preventionweb.net/files/43291_sendaiframeworkfordrren.pdf Note on the illustrations: The design company Estudio Relativo was invited by the authors to explore the use of text-to-image AI models for the illustrations. The designer used the open-source model Stable Diffusion for inspiration purposes and discussion with the authors. The final illustrations remain original artworks by the designer. TOC DIGITAL PUBLIC GOODS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE MA RC H 2023