14. Setting Research Priorities for Health and the Environment
Co - Chairs:
Dr. Nathalie Valette-Silver, National Center for Coastal Ocean Science, NOAA
Dr. Josephine Malilay, Associate Director for Science (Acting), Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, CDC
Discussants:
- David Applegate, USGS/ OSTP-SDR: Federal Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction (Confirmed)
- Josephine Malilay CDC, Research priorities for human health (Confirmed)
- Nathalie Valette-Silver, NOAA, Research priorities for ecosystems health (Confirmed)
Respondants:
- William Hooke, AMS
- Robert Corel, Heinz Center
- Claude Deville De Goyette, Consultant, PAHO
- Mary Gant, NIEHS
This break-out session will discuss the research priorities recently identified by the Federal Government to minimize the magnitude of human and ecosystem health disasters. Participants will be asked to review these priorities, provide suggestions on how to refine them, and identify supporting activities that could be shouldered by other partners.
Chartered in 1988, the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction (SDR) is a subcommittee of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR), an element of the President’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The SDR membership includes representatives from 23 relevant Federal agencies working together to better coordinate science and technology across the Federal government.
In June 2005, the SDR published a report describing the “Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction”. In this report, six grand challenges were identified. They include:
Grand Challenge #1: Provide hazard and disaster information where and when it is needed
Grand Challenge #2: Understand the natural processes that produce hazards
Grand Challenge #3: Develop hazard mitigation strategies and technologies
Grand Challenge #4: Recognize and reduce vulnerability of independent critical infrastructure
Grand Challenge #5: Assess disaster resilience using standard methods
Grand Challenge #6: Promote risk-wise behavior
Human and ecosystem health disasters were one of the eight disasters originally tackled by the SDR since these disasters can be either primary disasters (e.g., created by specific agents/hazard) or secondary to other disasters (e.g., following a flood, a hurricane, or a tsunami). Human and ecosystem health issues therefore may be raised to another level of complexity.
These Grand Challenges require sustained Federal investment as well as collaboration with states, and local governments, professional societies and trade associations, the private sector, academia and the international community to successfully transfer disaster reduction science and technology into common use.
To meet these challenges, the SDR has identified implementation actions by hazard. Addressing these implementation actions will improve America’s capacity to minimize the impacts of hazards and recover more efficiently and effectively from disasters. These implementation plans including one in human and ecosystem health will be published shortly.
Visit http://www.sdr.gov/ for more information on SDR activities and reports.
The report on “Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction” can be found at: http://www.sdr.gov/SDRGrandChallengesforDisasterReduction.pdf
