European Geologist European Geologist Geoheritage - learning ...

News
Developments on the PanGeo
project
David Norbury with contributions
from Isabel Fernández (EFG) and
Maraina Osihn (UNISDR)
Geohazards in the built environment can
be dangerous and costly, yet information
about these phenomena can be difficult
to obtain. The PanGeo project is aimed at
generating information on urban geohazards
and making this information freely
available online 1 .
Geohazards include natural and manmade
phenomena that make the ground
unstable and cause it to move. These
include earthquakes, landslides, mineral
workings, fluid abstraction and recharge,
shrink and swell clays, compressible or collapsible
deposits and landfill.
The outputs from the project are made
by integrating:
• Terrain motion measurements
derived from satellite radar image
processing
• Geological and geohazard information
held by national geological
surveys
• Polygonal land cover and land use
data contained within the GMES
Urban Atlas 2 .
The users of the service are anticipated
to include:
• Government and local authority
planners and regulators concerned
with managing and controlling
development and risk
• National geological surveys and
geoscience institutes who collect
and disseminate geohazard data for
public use
1 Information about the PanGeo project is
at http://www.pangeoproject.eu/sites/default/
files/pangeo_images/documents/Brochure_
version_7th_March_2012.pdf
2 More information on the Urban Atlas is
available at http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-andmaps/data/urban-atlas
• Policy makers concerned with assessing
and comparing risks across the
territory
• The public
A total of 52 towns within the Urban
Atlas are being processed within the
PanGeo project; these represent 13% of the
EU population. The remaining 205 towns
within the Atlas are targeted for similar
processing after the project.
This project fits neatly alongside the
United Nations International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) campaign
“Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting
Ready!” 3 which was launched in May
2010. The Campaign addresses issues of
local governance and urban risk. With the
support and recommendation of many
partners and participants, and a Mayors
Statement made during the 2011 Global
Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, the
Making Cities Resilient campaign will carry
on beyond 2015. Based on the stock-taking
by partners and participating cities in the
first phase (2010-2011) the campaign will
continue and shift its focus to more implementation
support, city-to-city learning
and cooperation, local action planning and
monitoring of progress in cities. The campaign
will furthermore continue to advocate
widespread commitment by local governments
to build resilience to disasters and
increased support by national governments
to cities for the purpose of strengthening
local capacities. To achieve these objectives,
it will be necessary to develop global goals
and targets that are applicable for all cities.
Private sector partners will be targeted to
support development of ‘industry standards’
and innovative urban risk reduction
solutions. Based on the five priorities of
the Hyogo framework for Action (HFA), a
ten-point checklist for making cities resilient,
that local governments sign up to, was
developed. By doing so, local governments
commit to implement disaster risk reduction
activities along these Ten Essentials.
Cities that have joined the Campaign are
encouraged to conduct city-to-city learning
and expert exchanges addressing building
resilience at the local level. Cities can also
join the Campaign as Role Model Cities,
3 More information on the Campaign is available
at http://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/about
meaning that the city is very advanced in a
certain area. Individuals can be appointed
as Campaign Champions for their extensive
work and knowledge within a certain area
and the role of Champions is to connect
with - and convince - government officials
at all levels, high-profile thinkers, innovators
and entrepreneurs whose activities can
catalyse action to address those challenges.
The Mayor of Venice, Mr. Georgio Orsoni,
is so far Europe’s first and only Champion.
A Handbook for Local Government
Leaders has also been developed to provide
mayors, governors, councillors and
other local government leaders with a
generic framework for risk reduction and
points to good practices and tools that are
already being applied in different cities for
that purpose. It discusses why building
disaster resilience is beneficial; what kind
of strategies and actions are required; and
how to go about the task. It offers practical
guidance to understand and take action
on the “Ten Essentials for Making Cities
Resilient” as set out in the global campaign
“Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting
Ready!”. At present 1276 cities have joined
the campaign worldwide. In Europe 403
cities have joined.
The resilience planning in this campaign
does not cover all cities and also does not
include geohazards. This is where the
common drive with PanGeo comes in – to
broaden the resilience planning to include
geohazards. So those EFG members with
an interest in geohazard mitigation should
contact their local city to encourage them to
take up on these initiatives for the benefit
of society as a whole.
During the month of October EFG participated
in various European events, which
were celebrated in Brussels, in relation to
geohazards:
• Disaster risk reduction takes into
consideration that Climate Change
Adaptation is an important topic for
Geologists active in Natural Hazards.
In this context the projects Terrafirma
and PanGeo offer important tools for
the users. In the context of the 10 th
European Week of Regions and Cities
taking place in Brussels, on 9 October,
EC DG Climate Action and EC
European Geologist 34 | November 2012
65