#3 Who Could Collaborate to Seek Mitigation?

This post will talk about some stakeholders' involvement in seeking mitigation of volcanic impacts on human health. They could come from different disciplines but work collectively towards more holistic solutions to health issues, meaning the requirement of transdisciplinary research.

Here is the list of stakeholders who could be involved:

Researchers and Scientists

Examples could be scholars in universities and institutions. For instance, the GVP research project on documenting and studying active volcanos and providing up-to-date information on activities.

They are academics who have strong personal interests in studying and investigating the relationship between volcanic eruption and human health impacts:

• Academics devote their professional career to exploring and gaining understanding of health issues derived from the volcanic eruption, as well as their associated mitigation solutions.

• More work is exploring the different aspects of volcanism, involving more than its natural processes but also the interface of social science. Interdisciplinary research is also required that integrates knowledge and collaborates between scientists from human and physical disciplines to address health issues. For instance, the possible research project collaboration on volcanic ash studies with human health.

• The findings and suggestions given by academics could be reached out to other stakeholders such as policymakers and NGOs for further investigation as well as mitigation implementation.

Governments and Policymakers

Examples could be national and local governance. Policymakers could play a crucial role in facilitating health-related mitigation research and aid the decision-making:

• Politicians could support research and development of new and innovative mitigation techniques. They could provide funding for research on for instance more cost-effective and easily understandable hazard maps for evacuation purposes.

• Authorities could provide regulatory frameworks for preparation based on research outcomes by scholars. They could conduct preparation such as evacuation drills on a wider scale for improving the cohesion of the whole community.

• Planners could plan the city structure and implement infrastructure and services to be more suitable for volcanic hazard management. For example, they could avoid construction and offer no services in exclusive zones to protect people from potential explosions.

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

An example could be Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), involving in many projects related to volcanic health mitigation.

NGOs could engage with a wide range of activities and provide multidisciplinary inputs on researching and conducting the mitigation methods:

• NGOs offer helps in multiple nations. They engaged in countries with emergency and disaster relief schemes, making them possible to reach humanitarian aid for short-term recovery. Also, development aid for long-term improvement and sustainable development.

• NGOs could help with advocacy and public outreach, rising the wide population’s awareness. They could conduct programs targeting poorly educated communities for acknowledging volcanic impacts and possible mitigation techniques.

• NGOs could work with states to improve community-based disaster preparedness. This could provide techno-intensive solutions for hazard response and mitigation.

The transdisciplinary approach involves more than the stakeholders aforementioned, but they are all essential for seeking and implementing the most effective and efficient mitigation methods to protect human health from volcanic eruptions.