00:00There were more than 300 experts gathered in Trieste to discuss the scientific and management challenges to be faced to build a society that is resilient to environmental risks.
00:15A theme that is at least current in a historical moment in which we witness the increasingly present effects, sometimes devastating, of climate change.
00:23The occasion of the meeting organized by the National Institute of Oceanography and Geophysics, the OGS, was the project RETURN financed by the PNRR.
00:35A project involving universities, research centers, competence centers, private companies and the Department of Civil Protection.
00:42RETURN, through the transversal skills of each actor, aims to strengthen national research on environmental risks.
00:50The idea was precisely to look for an approach that was not monodisciplinary but multidisciplinary.
00:55The key word is multiple risk.
00:58And it is a very difficult thing, because where you turn, there are knowledge gaps that must be filled.
01:04There is a lot to do, both in terms of understanding how to better monitor, and in terms of understanding how to better and more efficiently allocate our resources for management,
01:16both on the scale of the emergency, two or three days, typical of some events such as floods,
01:21and on the longer scale, months or years, which serve to plan things such as chronic pollution or the effects of chronic pollution.
01:31Research and technological innovation are the pillars on which to base the development of effective tools that are positioned at the forefront of resilience.
01:39Tools capable of assessing the risks of natural disasters, predicting the impact and improving response and adaptation.
01:46We are not able to predict precisely what will happen in the future, but we are able to say many things.
01:53These things, however, must take into account all the uncertainties we are aware of.
01:59For example, uncertainties related to the intrinsic variability of the process that generates these events,
02:06and also the limited knowledge of the process itself.
02:10Well, a reasonable estimate that is also useful for society in relation to the occurrence of these natural catastrophic events,
02:17must take into account both these types of uncertainties.
02:22In the RETURN project, there is a part of didactic training that contains highly up-to-date research content on the issues of risk and civil protection.
02:31Training is a decisive factor because it allows us to broaden and disseminate the principles,
02:38the concepts and also the results of a research activity that otherwise would often be of a level of communication with,
02:49let's say, the technical teams and with society, less relevant than what we are trying to do.
02:57In emergency management, in long-term planning, civil protection has a crucial role.
03:03Highly trained figures are therefore necessary within it.
03:07We are interested in having professionals in many sectors, from law to engineering to geology,
03:13who know the aspects of risk and risk reduction, so that they can bring this experience into their professions.
03:21This allows us to have qualified personnel in all sectors of the activities and to reduce the risk conditions in the future.
