Shifting the focus from the hazard to the impacted communities impliesthat their vulnerabilities should be assessed to serve as a startingpoint to conceive remedial and preparedness measures. Socialvulnerability concepts and ideas how to quantify these features ininterdisciplinary context will be presented. Ultimately, theintroduction of the recently established United Nations UniversityInstitute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) its mandate,scope and future plans will provide the institutional platform toimplement these goals.
UNU-EHS has been conceived and established in 2003 to address theenvironmental dimension of human security.