From 19-21 November 25 international experts have taken part in the Fourth Meeting of the Expert Working Group on Measuring Vulnerability at the UN Campus in Bonn. Unlike the last meeting with many participants the session in Bonn was conceived as a focused meeting with only a few participants. The EWG hopes to provide a platform for brainstorming and in-depth discussion, rather than formal presentations. The meeting focused mainly on vulnerability to climate change, the integration of gender aspects in measuring vulnerability and different measurements of vulnerability before, during and after a disaster of natural origin.

Measuring the Un-Measurable – is a short and succinct title as well as an indication of the challenges and difficulties in deriving appropriate methodologies, indicators and criteria to identify, measure and assess vulnerabilities of societies at risk.

This SOURCE publication is an essential reading for those interested in vulnerability research and the assessment and measurement of it. The publication by J. Birkmann and B.Wisner leads us through the thematic areas which were discussed, outlines the different scales of the assessment approaches presented, and analyses the nature of vulnerability measurement.

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UNU-EHS proundly announced the UNU Press publication Measuring Vulnerability to Natural HazardsTowards Disaster Resilient Societies, edited by Joern Birkmann, Academic Officer at UNU-EHS.

A seemingly non-stop series of disasters has shown that societies worldwide seem unprepared for the threats posed by natural hazards: Hurricane Katrina, drought in Africa; flooding in China and Germany; earthquakes in Pakistan and India; a tsunami in South-East Asia; and forest fi res in Portugal, Australia and North America. The tragic impacts of these events drew short-term attention from policy makers, the media and the general public, but their response was too late to prevent serious harm. Societies need to measure their vulnerabilities in advance, and make adequate provisions. This book is a unique compilation of state-of-the-art vulnerability assessment and is essential reading for academics, students, policy makers, practitioners, and anybody else interested in understanding the fundamentals of measuring vulnerability. It is a critical review that provides important conclusions which can serve as an orientation for future research towards more disaster resilient communities.

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Hurricane Katrina batters the southeast coast of the US, submerging New Orleans; a tsunami devastates South-East Asia; in China and Germany floods engulf cities, towns and villages; forests burn out of control in Portugal; droughts ravage countries in Africa ... the whole world seems stricken by disasters, and the media shows the death, destruction and displacement caused by such catastrophic events. But focusing on disasters when they happen is not enough: we need to understand that disasters are the result of a complex relationship between a potentially damaging event and the general vulnerability of a society, its economy, and environment. And to reduce the risk of disasters happening in the future it is essential that we find out how vulnerable we are now.

This research is extracted from a book proposed for publication by United Nations University Press in 2006...

The UNU-EHS EWG is intended to contribute to a more comprehensive, holistic and systematized understanding of vulnerability, on the one hand, and to its practical application in decision-making processes on the other. The measurement of vulnerability encompasses different metho¬dolo¬gies in order to be able to capture the various aspects of vulnerability. Furthermore, the project aims at promoting a dialog between different disciplinary approaches. Finally, the UNU-EHS Expert Working Group on Measuring Vulnerability is also meant to constitute an important activity within the follow up mechanism of the Hyogo Framework for Action, as it had defined the development of indicators and the identification of vulnerability as an important pre-requisite for effective disaster risk reduction.

The UNU-EHS Expert Working Group (EWG) met for a second time, following up on its inaugural meeting in Kobe, Japan in January 2005. The second meeting was larger, welcoming representatives from a variety of German planning and development assistance institutions, partners from on-going field research in Russia and Sri Lanka, as well as a number of young scientists (see EWG II Programme).