Driving awareness and growth

Assessing risk & understanding exposure to protect business continuity

Djeevan Schiferli, Resilience Suite Lead at Royal HaskoningDHV says that, with rapid climate change and the increase in extreme weather incidents, resilience is quickly becoming an agenda item for the boardroom. He explains, “Businesses must be aware of their exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards and extreme weather in order to understand what measures they should take to increase their resilience.

Urban planning and stakeholder collaboration reduce risk & enhance resilience

Today, people and assets are more densely concentrated in urban environments, making society much more vulnerable to climate-related disruption than in the past. In their vlog, Tjeerd Driessen (Director Business Development Africa) and Oluwaseun Oyebode (Civil Engineer and Consultant at Royal HaskoningDHV Southern Africa) discuss Southern Africa’s susceptibility to floods, droughts, hail, wildfires and storm surges; as well as the measures that should be taken to enhance resilience in the region.

Combining efforts across sectors for greater climate resilience

Building better resilience, whether to flood, fire or drought, will be an evolutionary process. Ben Patterson, Technical Director Rivers & Water Management, Australia, at Royal HaskoningDHV, says that using lessons learnt and tools developed in one sector to improve resilience in others will speed this process and ultimately achieve a far more cohesive approach.

Implementing green infrastructure for more liveable and resilient cities

In moving towards climate resilience, green infrastructure is currently being implemented by leading cities around the world. Nanco Dolman, Leading Professional in Water Resilient Cities at Royal HaskoningDHV says, “It is not only about managing stormwater in an effective way. Green infrastructure also adds to the liveability and aesthetics of urban areas by providing benefits in tackling heat stress and drought, and by making cities much more appealing places for city dwellers.”

Listen to the complete vlog here

Long-term adaptive capacity for resilient assets and infrastructure

Resilience has an element of bounce back that includes improved resistance after an event and building adaptive capacity. Jaap Flikweert, Flood and Coastal Management Advisor UK at Royal HaskoningDHV, says, “For long-term investments, services like digital twins help infrastructure operators and companies to understand how natural systems are going to develop; and keep them informed about when they will need to invest again to keep their assets resilient.” 

Learn more about Bacton Sandscaping Project

Next generation digital innovations enable resilience

In the age of urbanisation, cities should recognise themselves as urban ecosystems. Nanco Dolman, Leading Professional Water Resilient Cities at Royal HaskoningDHV, says that a new generation in digital tools will enable better awareness of climate- and water-related risks and their impacts, and of how to accelerate actions towards adaptation and resilience.

Watch Nanco’s vlog below and learn more about how the delta city, Zwolle, created a resilience strategy.

Resilience strategy of a delta city

Actionable insights for business continuity

With companies and consumers around the world expecting 24/7 service and just-in-time delivery all year round, business continuity is fundamental. Due to globalisation, local outfall will have global impact. To mitigate operational, supply chain or distribution interruptions caused by severe weather or natural hazards, industries must take steps to increase the resilience of their assets and processes.

Lennart Silvis, Global Director Water for Industry at Royal HaskoningDHV, says that new digital innovations offer great opportunities for analysing, forecasting and mitigating risks related to business continuity.

Resilience in cities: addressing societal and economic risks