Guidance for Risk Awareness

How to increase awareness for the links between environmental risk and human well-being

• Raise awareness with the aim to further people’s knowledge and perception about the environment, disaster risk, and human well-being.
  • Develop awareness programs with a strong focus on community participation to help communities understand the impacts of environmental degradation in terms of disaster risk as well as the potential impacts of disasters on the environment and livelihoods.
    • See here for specific guidance on public risk awareness and communication.
    • Ensure  that best practices for community engagement are followed (see IFRC’s Community Engagement and Accountability toolkit).
  • Incorporate environmental considerations into disaster risk awareness campaigns, seminars, conferences, workshops, trainings and exercises, sensitizing participants to how environmental degradation increases disaster risk.
  • If possible, link activities to existing programs on sustainable natural resource management.
  • Adjust the awareness raising approach according to the target audience, considering tailored trainings for specific hazards.
• Make use of existing guidelines and tools to raise awareness on specific environmental hazards, such as:

• • APELL which is a process specifically designed for improving community awareness and preparedness for technological hazards and environmental emergencies.
  • Specific guidance developed by technical agencies for incidents such as nuclear emergencies, chemical accidents and transport accidents.