Bibliographic details:

Coleman, T. (2011). A Practical Guide to Risk Management (pp. 1 - 206). The Research Foundation of CFA Institute.

Abstract:

Managing risk is at the core of managing any financial organization. Risk measurement and
quantitative tools are critical aids for supporting risk management, but quantitative tools
alone are no substitute for judgment, wisdom, and knowledge. Managers within a financial
organization must be, before anything else, risk managers in the true sense of managing the
risks that the firm faces.

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DeMarco, T., & Lister, T. (2003). Waltzing with bears. Dorset house.‏

Abstract:

Greater risk brings greater reward, especially in software development. A company that runs away from risk will soon find itself lagging behind its more adventurous competition. By ignoring the threat of negative outcomes—in the name of positive thinking or a can-do attitude—software managers drive their organizations into the ground.

In Waltzing with Bears, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister-the best-selling authors of People ware-show readers how to identify and embrace worthwhile risks. Developers are then set free to push the limits. The authors present the benefits of risk management, including that it makes aggressive risk-taking possible, protects management from getting blindsided, provides minimum-cost downside protection, reveals invisible transfers of responsibility and isolates the failure of a subproject. Readers are armed with strategies for confronting the most common risks that software projects face: schedule flaws requirements inflation turnover specification breakdown and under-performance. Waltzing with Bears will help you mitigate the risks-before they turn into project-killing problems. Risks are out there-and they should be there-but there is a way to manage them.

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Dembo, R. S., & Freeman, A. (2001). Seeing tomorrow: Rewriting the rules of risk. John Wiley & Sons.

Abstract:

In high-stakes investing and business, success or failure largely depends on how well you play the game of risk-a game in which the rules of competition are constantly being rewritten. Strategies that proved effective in the past are no longer enough to win today. The key to success is not to rely on yesterday's news, but to peer into the future and ask what could happen tomorrow.

Presenting a bold new way of thinking about risk, in Seeing Tomorrow Ron Dembo and Andrew Freeman offer a dynamic framework designed to enhance our ability to make important decisions, and consequently change how we manage our investments. By incorporating investors' individual circumstances and tolerances -as well as the unique reasoning behind their decision making-this innovative approach captures much more of how we actually think about risk.

From the basic building blocks required for forward-looking risk management, Dembo and Freeman define and explore the roles and significance of such fundamentals as time horizons, risk measures, benchmarks, and scenarios. Once the foundation is laid, these elements are used to construct a solid architecture for risk management and risk-adjusted analysis that is not only general enough to be able to handle a multitude of risks, but also able to present many different measures of risk.

With clear-cut explanations and intriguing real-world examples, Seeing Tomorrow leads you step by step through the authors' groundbreaking risk rules. These include: choosing an appropriate time horizon, selecting scenarios, computing Value at Risk (VAR), assessing both the upside and downside of a potential deal, calculating Regret, and compiling a reliable Regret matrix. By combining Regret, Upside, and a measure of our tolerance for risk, the authors demonstrate how these components create a powerful new way of approaching decisions. They offer guidance on very specific real life problems-such as buying a house or suing someone-as well as on broad matters of strategy and investing.

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Depietri, Y., Renaud, F. G., & Kallis, G. (2012). Heat waves and floods in urban areas: a policy-oriented review of ecosystem services. Sustainability science, 7(1), 95-107.

Abstract:

Urbanization is increasing and today more than a half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Cities, especially those where urbanization is un-planned or poorly planned, are increasingly vulnerable to hydro-meteorological hazards such as heat waves and floods. Urban areas tend to degrade the environment, fragmenting and isolating ecosystems, compromising their capacity to provide services. The regulating role of ecosystems in buffering hydro-meteorological hazards and reducing urban vulnerability has not received adequate policy attention until now. Whereas there is a wide body of studies in the specialized biological and ecological literature about particular urban ecosystem features and the impacts of hazards upon people and infrastructures, there is no policy-driven overview looking holistically at the ways in which ecosystem features can be managed by cities to reduce their vulnerability to hazards. Using heat waves and floods as examples, this review article identifies the aggravating factors related to urbanization, the various regulating ecosystem services that buffer cities from hydro-meteorological impacts as well as the impacts of the hazards on the ecosystem. The review also assesses how different cities have attempted to manage related ecosystem services and draws policy-relevant conclusions.

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Depietri, Y., Welle, T., & Renaud, F. G. (2013). Social vulnerability assessment of the Cologne urban area (Germany) to heat waves: links to ecosystem services. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 6, 98-117

Abstract:

More than three-quarters of the European population live in urban areas and this proportion is increasing, leading, in some cases, to increased vulnerability of cities to environmental hazards. The health impacts of heat waves are aggravated in cities due to the high density of buildings, the fragmentation of green areas and the higher concentrations of air pollutants. Ecosystems can provide important benefits that mitigate the impacts of heat waves but at the same time can themselves be affected by the hazard, thus limiting their services. The objective of this study was to assess the vulnerability of the Cologne urban population to heat waves, taking into consideration a range of social and ecological variables. Based on the MOVE framework, indicators were developed and GIS applications were used to spatially assess the relative vulnerability of the 85 districts of Cologne to heat waves. The insights gained were integrated and corroborated with the outcomes of stakeholders' interviews. As environmental factors play a major role in this assessment, it is suggested that ecosystem management in Cologne and its surroundings be improved. In addition, though vulnerability is higher in central districts, attention needs to be paid to the periphery where the most susceptible groups reside.

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Doswald, N., & Estrella, M. (2015). Promoting ecosystems for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation: opportunities for integration. UNEP, Geneva.

Abstract:

This paper seeks to highlight the differences and commonalities between ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation (EBA) and ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) and suggests key integration points at the project level through examining a number of Eco-DRR, EBA and hybrid (Eco-DRR/CCA) projects. A total of 38 (Eco-DRR, EBA and hybrid Eco-DRR/CCA) projects were examined in terms of their aims, assessments, implementation, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and policy and institutional contexts to understand how in practice these approaches differ and overlap and to find key integration points.

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Fischhoff, B., Kadvany, J., & Kadvany, J. D. (2011). Risk: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.‏

Abstract:

We find risks everywhere—from genetically modified crops, medical malpractice, and stem-cell therapy to intimacy, online predators, identity theft, inflation, and robbery. They arise from our own acts and they are imposed on us. In this Very Short Introduction, Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany draw on the sciences and humanities to explore and explain the many kinds of risk. Using simple conceptual frameworks from decision theory and behavioral research, they examine the science and practice of creating measures of risk, showing how scientists address risks by combining historical records, scientific theories, probability, and expert judgment. Risk: A Very Short Introduction describes what has been learned by cognitive scientists about how people deal with risks, applying these lessons to diverse examples, and demonstrating how understanding risk can aid choices in everyday life and public policies for health, safety, environment, finance, and many other topics.

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Bibliographic details:

Glickman, T. S., & Gough, M. (1990). Readings in risk. RFF Press.‏

Abstract:

Developed for use as a reference work in graduate and undergraduate courses as well as for researchers, policymakers, and interested laypersons, the book is a unique collection of authoritative yet accessible journal articles about risk. Drawn from a variety of disciplines including the physical and social sciences, engineering, and law, the articles deal with a wide range of public policy, regulatory, management, energy, and environmental issues. The selections are accompanied by introductory notes, questions for thought and discussion, and suggestions for further reading.

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Bibliographic details:

Guadagno, L., Depietri, Y., & Fra, U. (2013). Urban disaster risk reduction and ecosystem services. The role of ecosystem services in disaster risk reduction. United Nations University, Bonn, 389-415

Abstract:

Urban areas are growing worldwide and for the first time in human history they host more than half of the total human population. They have always been the places where most human interactions take place and where cultural, economic and political activities are concentrated. On the one hand, urban areas have enabled human populations to be less reliant on local ecosystems, building a wider service network and relying on more distant areas for the supply of resources. On the other hand, urban areas are increasingly located in or expand into hazard-prone areas. Cities are also responsible for ecosystem degradation, diminishing their regulating functions and buffering capacity with respect to hazards, further increasing urban risk. Though “hard” engineered technologies have traditionally been adopted to reduce the vulnerability of urban areas to hazards, “soft” technologies, utilizing natural infrastructure to mitigate hazard impacts, often provide cost effective strategies, while also guaranteeing access to different sources of livelihoods. This chapter aims to introduce the particular features of disaster risk in urban areas, while focusing on both “local” and “distant” ecosystems and their role in mitigating the impacts of hazards in cities. Case studies are included which illustrate good practices in the adoption of an ecosystem approach in urban areas for disaster risk reduction.

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Bibliographic details:

Gupta, A. K., & Nair, S. S. (Eds.). (2012). Ecosystem approach to disaster risk reduction. New Delhi: National Institute of Disaster Management

Abstract:

This book is intended to provide an overview of the concept of ecosystem approach to disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR), natural resource management and disaster linkages, incorporating Eco-DRR concepts in various phases of disaster management, including post disaster recovery in wide range of human and natural environmental settings. The case studies cover coastal, mountain and urban ecosystems and specific hydro-meteorological risks like floods, forest fire, epidemics and landslides.

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