2018•12•18     Bonn

Photo: UNICEF/Moreno Gonza

The INFORM Report 2019, with a contribution by UNU-EHS’ Vulnerability Assessment, Risk Management & Adaptive Planning (VARMAP) Section, has been published. INFORM is a global initiative of UN organizations, the European Union and other civil society as well as academic actors to provide open source risk assessments for humanitarian crises and disasters. “The ultimate goal of INFORM is to generate and provide transparent information on countries’ risk profiles and capacity for coping, in order to guide decision making for crises and disaster prevention, preparedness and response”, says Dr. Matthias Garschagen, Head of Vulnerability Assessment, Risk Management and Adaptive Planning at UNU-EHS.

The initiative has developed and later expanded the INFORM Global Risk Index, which combines 50 indicators to measure hazards and people’s exposure to them, their vulnerability, and the resources available to help people cope. The outcome is a country’s risk profile with ratings that are easy to compare. In the 2019 report, Somalia is the county with the highest overall risk score (9.1 out of 10), followed by South Sudan (8.9) and the Central African Republic (8.5). “In contrast to many other risk indices, a particular advantage of INFORM is that its data and methodology are open-source, meaning that the assessment can be advanced and custom-tailored by users, according to their specific information needs. Further, INFORM provides time-series data, allowing to track progress in risk reduction in the future”, adds Garschagen.

To view the report please click here.