SH4 - Introduction
SH4 – Sustainable
Healthy Habitats & Healthy Humans
- Sustainable Emergency Preparedness and Response.
- Knowledge Translation & Technological Innovation for Sustainable Humanitarian Action.
- Knowledge Translation & Technological Innovation for Sustainable Humanitarian Action.
SH4 aims to address the global challenge represented by
sustainability of emergency preparedness and response within the SDG
framework.
SH4 contributes to knowledge cross-fertilization and translation
between humanitarian, development, public and community actors and participates
in technological innovation that strengthens sustainability of Humanitarian
Action.
Sustainable Emergency Preparedness and Response
Within the scope of the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) Framework it is essential to recognize that no development gains
will be sustainable if they are not accompanied by increased preparedness
and the corresponding improved capacity to respond to emergent critical events;
regardless of whether those are secondary to human activity or occur as a
result of natural phenomena.
Sustainable Emergency Preparedness and Response
is thus an indispensable line of work, that needs to be included in the
portfolio of SDG initiatives at the global, regional, national and sub-national
levels.
Recent experience on humanitarian coordination
issues has highlighted the challenges we face as we strive to ensure healthy
lives and promote sustainable wellbeing for all in our global village; in
particular for people affected by wars and disasters, who typically live in
very low-resourced settings.
Knowledge Cross-fertilization
and Translation
Within the framework of the SDGs, the
exploration of knowledge cross-fertilization opportunities between
humanitarian, development, public, private and community actors, results
essential to improve sustainable strategic coordination and planning.
Knowledge Translation for sustainable
Humanitarian Action stands out as an issue of particular importance as it has
been, up to now, an area where important gaps occur on a recurrent manner, but
for which the currently available technological base increasingly provides
improved solutions opportunities.
Systematic analysis of the state of readiness of
the global system of crisis management and coordination in preparation for
new/next emergencies is of critical importance.
These matters are of growing urgency, as
necessary elements for the future of our world. To this end, we
currently promote an informal Community of Practice that seeks to find
innovative ways to advance our knowledge and management of crisis -volatile,
uncertain, complex and ambiguous scenarios.
Technological
Innovation
SH4 also contributes towards innovation to strengthen sustainability
of Emergency Preparedness and Response. One of our current initiatives in this
direction is the development of a Bank of Digital Twins of Emergency Scenarios.
Digital Twins represent a potential paradigm
shift for emergency preparedness and response, from simulation to immersion.
The term digital twin (DT) was proposed in 2002 by Michael Grieves from the
University of Michigan. Today, machine intelligence and connectivity to the
cloud allow unprecedented potential for large-scale implementation of
ultra-realistic simulation and reality-replica technology. More than a
technology a Digital Twin is a paradigm that implies the development of precise
models of processes, products, services and operational environments.
This pairing of the virtual and physical worlds
allows analysis of data and monitoring of systems and actor behavior to head
off problems before they even occur, prevent downtime, develop new
opportunities and plan for the future by using what if simulations and
immersion scenarios.
In the SH4 proposal, DTs for emergency preparedness and response are meant
to be digital replicas of operational contexts including asset inventories in
the natural and built environments, as well as the emergency and response
ecosystem’s processes and their operators’ actions. These digital twins will be
fit to be used for various purposes. The digital emulation aims to provide both
the elements and dynamics of how the operational context functions and evolves
throughout its life cycle.
a. Digital Twins for Emergency Preparedness
As we prepare for different types of critical
incidents -“the emergencies” -, the DTs for preparedness will mirror the
geospatial characteristics of the incident location and the typical dynamics of
that kind of critical event; emulating diverse damage scenarios, affected
populations, planned response actors, and activities - as per preparedness
protocols.
Digital Twins for Preparedness, based on jointly
developed and tested contingency scenarios, can represent a lower cost
alternative to the traditional processes for emergency preparedness, in which
large scale multi-level simulation exercises result very costly and quite often
have less than optimal results. Typically little beyond call-in confirmation
from listed parties is registered, without documentation of whether diverse
contingencies were considered by the principals, whether the evidence necessary
for informed decision making was adequate for each contingency scenario and
available on time for decision-making.
This is of importance as Sustainable Emergency
Preparedness implies investment in the achievement and maintenance of what
constitutes, in a sense, idle capacity until a critical emergency incident
occurs requiring Response. Sustained investment and focused effort on
preparedness represents a challenge for many sustainable development
stakeholders, but more so for those in low- and very-low-resourced
environments.
b. Digital Twins for Emergency Response
The DTs for Emergency Response will mirror the
evolution of the emergency incident, as per diverse incoming information
flows from the theatre of operations and is uploaded
into the digital scenario, mirroring the response implementation scenario, including
actors, activities, emergent events
(epidemic outbreaks in a post-disaster setting for example), etc., permitting immersion analysis of the
evolving situation and consideration of what-if contingency scenarios; supporting the
incident response management process.
As with any other tool, digital twins by
themselves are not the key. Rather, the collaborative planning, testing,
monitoring, evaluation and learning processes that DTs enable for the Emergency
Preparedness & Response Community of Practice are the key value adding
elements that will contribute to more sustainable emergency preparedness and
response.
SH4 - Sustainable Healthy
Habitats and Healthy Humans
Proud member of The Hague
Humanity Hub [ http://www.humanityhub.net/ ]
Mauricio Calderon Ortiz
Sustainable Emergency Preparedness & Response
Knowledge Translation & Technological Innovation for
Sustainable Humanitarian Action
Skype
capsos_21
Mobile Tel. / WhatsApp = +34 625 822 718
Chris P. Lara
Graduate Fellow – Rotary Peace Fellow -
IEP Global Peace Index Ambassador
Duke Center for International Development
School of Public Policy, Duke University
E-mail: Christian.lara@duke.edu larac@un.org
Mobile Tel. / WhatsApp = +1 917 847 6828
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