Alliances
GRF Davos is building alliances in order to facilitae the experience and knowledge sharing between science and practice and to foster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Research on an international level.
Swiss NGO DRR Platform
The Swiss NGO DRR Platform is a network of NGO professionals dedicated to better prepare women and men, communities and governments to all aspects of DRR. Its main goal is to more effectively mitigate risks and enhance prevention of risks in their humanitarian and development oriented endeavours, advisory services and policy making by capturing the diversity of knowledge and experiences related to DRR of Swiss NGOs and our partners.
GRF Davos is an active member of the platform since 2012.
Hyogo Framework for Action, post 2015: What would we like to see. Voices from the field.
Under the umbrella of the Swiss NGO DRR Platform, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation in collaboration with Caritas Switzerland (CaCH) and the Global Risk Forum (GRF) Davos has conducted a study on the Swissexperience in DRR using the Delphi methodology.
The results have been compiled in a report on the 
"Hyogo Framework for Action, post 2015: What would we like to see. Voices from the field.".
OSLO Consortium: Offering Sustainable Land-use Options
GRF Davos is a member of the OSLO Consortium since 2012.
About the Oslo Consortium
The OSLO consortium is a global partnership of leading research and academic institutions, international organizations and UN agencies that aims to promote responsible land-use by demonstrating the total economic value of terrestrial ecosystems and generating socio-economically viable and environmentally sustainable land use options.
The OSLO approach involves assessing the net socio-economic benefits of sustainable land and ecosystem management, and reducing the risks and uncertainties associated with eco-system smart policies and investments. Through this, benefits in sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction, reversing land degradation and strengthening the protection of ecological integrity may be realized.
Through in depth assessments of land value, OSLO is able to demonstrate that sustainable land management approaches are economically rational and can encourage investment from public and private sectors alike.
Background and rationale
The contribution of land resources to national development and their potential to assist in economic growth and sustainable development are often unrecognised. This is in part because the true value of these resources is unknown.
Vulnerability to land degradation and frequent drought is reducing food security, impeding economic development, escalating poverty and putting more pressure on scarce forest reserves, wetlands and other sensitive ecosystems.
For further information: http://www.theoslo.net/
PEDDR Alliance Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction
GRF Davos is part of the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) since 2010.
About PEDRR
The Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) is a global partnership comprised of UN agencies, international and regional NGOs as well as specialist institutes that collectively aim to influence policy, enhance implementation and better coordinate efforts in environmental management for disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods. It promotes ecosystems management as the key strategy to reduce disaster risk, increase local resilience and adapt to a changing climate.
Formally established in 2008, the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) is a global alliance of UN agencies, NGOs and specialist institutes. As a global thematic platform of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), PEDRR seeks to promote and scale-up implementation of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and ensure it is mainstreamed in development planning at global, national and local levels, in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action. It provides technical and science-based expertise and applies best practices in ecosystems-based DRR approaches. PEDRR is guided by its vision of: “Resilient communities as a result of improved ecosystem management for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA)”. Its objective is to pool expertise and advocate for policy change and best practice in ecosystem management for DRR and CCA, based on science, practitioners’ experience and indigenous knowledge.
Vision
Resilient communities as a result of improved ecosystem management that reduces disaster risk and enables adaptation to climate change.
Purpose
Provide expertise and the latest information on ecosystem management for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
Promote best practices in ecosystems-based approaches at national and community levels.
Coordinate and mainstream environment initiatives within the ISDR system.
What PEDRR does
Advocacy: PEDRR raises awareness of the role of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction and promotes innovative natural resource management approaches, such as integrated flood management, for risk management. It provides technical expertise to influence global and national policies and to support the ISDR system.
Exchange of knowledge and practices: Drawing from science, practitioners’ experience and indigenous knowledge systems, PEDRR pulls together cutting-edge research and field-based examples that demonstrate ecosystems-based approaches to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
Networking: PEDRR promotes partnerships at global, regional and national levels and fosters collaboration between the environmental science and development communities.
Ecosystems, livelihoods and disasters: Reducing disaster risk through ecosystem management
Environment and disasters are linked in two important ways. Disasters induced by natural hazards can have adverse environmental consequences, while degraded environments cause or amplify the negative impacts of disasters. Global climate change will magnify ecosystems degradation and disaster risk due to increasing temperatures and extreme weather events, resulting in floods, landslides, heat waves and prolonged droughts. Healthy and well-managed ecosystems, on the other hand, are more robust against hazards. As such, healthy ecosystems are better able to buffer against disasters and continue to provide benefit to the communities in post disaster situations. These important services provided by ecosystems, however, are often unrecognized or undervalued. Adopting an integrated approach to ecosystem management for sustainable livelihoods, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction is therefore the way forward.
Harbin Alliance
A unique network has just been formed: the Harbin Alliance for Harmonisation of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction (Harbin Alliance). It is named after the city Harbin in the far north of China.
The Harbin Alliance is a worldwide partnership of ten NGOs, UN bodies, intergovernmental bodies and research organisations: Asia Disaster Preparedness Centre, Asia Disaster Reduction Centre, Care International, Climate Action Network South Asia, Climate Action Network South East Asia, International Disaster Reduction Conference, Prevention Consortium, Oxfam Hong Kong, UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and UN/ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction).
It all began 2007, at the IDRC regional conference in Harbin, China on disaster risk reduction. Oxfam Hong Kong led a discussion about the importance of integrating climate change in disaster response, and we brought together internationally regarded experts in and practitioners of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
How do the two fields overlap? How is adapting to climate change related to reducing risks in a disaster? Both address the many risks in emergencies, such as cyclones, floods and droughts; and both aim to reduce the vulnerability of people, as well as their animals and crops, yet, there are several differences that have often kept the two groups apart. The two groups, for instance, can use very different language to discuss their work. People working on climate change adaptation usually use longer time frames and see risks over a period of time, whereas people in disaster risk reduction work usually describe situations in shorter time frames. Oxfam Hong Kong led that meeting in Harbin to try to facilitate a closer link. We wanted to facilitate more communication and better information exchange between the two groups, so that development policies would not be conflicting, and disaster management and short- or long-term development projects would be sustainable.
The Alliance has meshed well. So far, the members negotiated ahead of and during the UN climate change meeting in Bali in December 2007, and they are currently preparing the report, "Global Linkages between Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation - Can two roads become one?".
In general, the work of the Alliance includes:
- Promoting best practices by sharing, analysing and disseminating information
- Engaging policy-makers and practitioners on the benefits of synergising the two fields
- New research
- Lobbying the UN that disaster risk reduction is the first and foremost strategy to address climate change
- Build up a critical mass of disaster risk reduction practitioners who understand climate change negotiations, in particular the UN climate change adaptation framework
By Sahba Chauhan, Oxfam Hong Kong
Please 
read this PDF for more information on the Harbin Alliance.