The Third International Workshop for Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service was held on December 13 and 14, 2019, Beijing, China. Organized by Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGSNRR, CAS), the workshop was co-hosted by the International Knowledge Centre for Engineering Sciences and Technology under the Auspices of UNESCO (IKCEST) and Section on Earth Sciences and Geo-Hazards Risk Reduction, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO DRR). Mr. SONG Dexiong, Director-General of Department of General Administration of Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), executive deputy director of IKCEST, Mr. Philippe Pypaert, programme specialist for Natural Sciences, UNESCO Office in Beijing, SUN Jiulin, CAE Member, CUI Peng, CAS Member, Dr. LIU Chang, deputy director of Division of Information Infrastructure ＆Resources, General Administration Department of CAE, and director of Division of International Cooperation, IKCEST, Ms. FENG Kai, deputy director of the Division of International Organization, Bureau of International Cooperation, CAS, Professor GAO Xing, deputy director of IGSNRR, CAS, Ms. Gretchen Kalonji, former assistant director-general of UNESCO and the dean of Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Sichuan University-Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Mr. HAN Qunli, executive director of the International Project Office of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), Dr. Oyunsanaa Byambasuren, director general, Department of Forest Policy and Coordination, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Mongolia, participated in the workshop. Nearly 80 experts and scholars from 8 countries, including China, United States, Japan, Germany, Russia, etc, and Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service (DRRKS) project team attended the workshop. This workshop was broadcast online to the world on the Zhiling live platform synchronously and more than 13000 users watched it.

In the opening session, Mr. Soichiro Yasukawa, programme specialist and coordinator for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, UNESCO Section on Earth Sciences and Geo-hazards Risk Reduction, made a video speech. Mr. Philippe Pypaert, made a report on “UNESCO’s Contribution to Disaster Risk Reduction for Regional DRR and DRR in Big-data”. Mr. SONG Dexiong, on behalf of IKCEST, Ms. FENG Kai, on behalf of the Bureau of International Cooperation, CAS, Prof. GAO Xing, on behalf of IGSNRR, CAS, made welcome speeches respectively. Prof. WANG Juanle, executive director of DRRKS moderated the opening ceremony.

During the keynote speech session, Prf. CUI Peng made a report on “A new solution for flash flood and debris flow: Disaster prediction and integrated risk reduction”. Prof. Gretchen Kalonji delivered the speech of “New models for multinational collaborations on undergraduate degree programs in integrated disaster sciences and management”. HAN Qunli showed a report entitled “Formulation of a new international DRR research agenda toward 2030 - an update from IRDR”. Oyunsanaa Byambasuren made a report on “International cooperation on wildland fire management”. WANG Juanle gave a thematic report on “Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service System progress in IKCEST”. Participants conducted discussions and exchanges on the theme report. Dr. LIU Chang and Mr. Philippe pypaert presided over the discussion of the keynote report and the thematic report respectively.

In the panel discussion session, experts focused on two topics of “Regional Disaster Risk Reduction” and “Disaster Risk Reduction in Big-data” and carried out academic exchange and group thematic discussion respectively. Experts from University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Institute for Complex Analysis of Regional Problems Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, National University of Mongolia, Center for Disaster Mitigation - Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia, Karakoram International University of Pakistan and other institutions introduced the progress of regional disaster risk reduction. Experts from Public Works Research Institute, Japan, Quaid-i-Azam University of Pakistan, Beijing Normal University, China Earthquake Networks Center, Baidu and other institutions reported and exchanged results on Big-data and information technology applications. Professor WANG Juanle and Jutta May (an expert of information and knowledge management) presided over the panel discussion of these two topics respectively.

Combined with the thematic discussion, the experts and audience gave good suggestions on the vision and development of the Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Service System of IKCEST, such as strengthening the cultivation and interaction of international users, strengthening the analysis, utilization and output of social media data, focusing on the quality control of disaster scientific data, and expanding domestic and foreign cooperation networks, etc. In panel discussion, experts had a lively interactive exchange on the distribution of major natural disasters along the “One Belt and One Road” economic corridor, data sharing of disaster science, disaster information mining of social media, rapid mapping technology of disaster, user’s services of disaster risk and reduction, international training cooperation on disaster risk reduction, etc.

This workshop further promoted the international cooperation of the DRRKS of IKCEST, broadened the international expert network, and laid a solid foundation for future work. The project team would fully absorb and summarize the results of this workshop, and further improve the service capacity and influence of DRRKS (http://drr.ikcest.org).

Attached photos：

Figure 1. Conference site

Figure 2. Thematic discussion

Figure 3. Group photo