The World Watch Institute (2005) lists three challenges for the world’s community : threats and risks (security), North-South relations, and the challenges of sustainable development. Before discussing the challenges faced in terms of Risk Management, it is first necessary to establish concepts, elements and preconditions.

Examples : How do we differentiate risk management and crisis management ? Do we use a classic (objective) or a Baysian model as the starting point or something else ?

When talking about risks at a societal level, do we include the political world and the business world in addition to civil society ?

Solutions to technical, economical and structural issues must be integrated on the basis of open standards, which meet minimum requirements !

Basically we must consider the emergency circle as a whole. However we also know that to some degree risks are social and political inventions. Examples can be seen through issues such as social disintegration, poverty, hunger, epidemics, and migration. Solving such “man-made” problems entails transforming the risk, through deregulation or by enabling the market-forces to take over. It is essential to identify vulnerability in critical infrastructure and to introduce new technology and production models.

The boundaries between risk-related problems are becoming increasingly unclear : external and internal security, technological and societal reasons/consequences, the scope and area of responsibility. At the same time societal developments seem to be moving towards complexity and interdependence, ambiguity and uncertainty.

This contributes towards shying away from debate and leaving matters to the experts. We often underestimate the element of uncertainty and tend to simplify risks into measurable parameters that are politically acceptable.

Essential elements in a proactive method include : flexibility in crisis management, giving individuals a sense of responsibility, increasing public awareness and participation, focusing on processes during a crisis, and understanding that you cannot prevent risks purely through “designing”.

Facts and conclusions : within the context of globalisation, priorities must be based on global sustainable responsibility. It is time to consider whether civil protection is - in the context of the EU - solely a matter of internal national priorities.

It is also time to connect the vertical top-down model with a horizon-oriented model, based on a municipal and community model.