Review of multi-hazards research and risk assessments

The work described in this report is a “Review of environmental multi-hazards research and risk assessment approaches” for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) through a UKRI contract for services (CR18075) and was compiled and led by a BGS consortium, supported by Natural Hazard Partnership (NHP) partners (HSE, CEH, and Met Office). Multi-hazard research is in its infancy, despite the growing attention it has received in the last years. Climate change, natural and anthropogenic hazards result in multi-hazard environments characterized by complex, interacting processes that generate impacts on the built environment and people, which are different to those incurred from the individual hazards happening in isolation. The recently developed methodologies for multi-hazard risk assessment processes represent an advancement in our understanding of these complexities, but they also pose specific challenges to policy makers and practitioners due to the cross-disciplinary nature required to undertake these assessments. This review strives to present an impartial and well-evidenced report of current developments in research, policy and industry with respect to multi-hazard processes and risk assessments. The need for such studies is now more apparent than ever, given the expected effects of climate change on the frequency and magnitude of weather-related hazards.