In-Depth Learning on The Governance of Climate Risk and Climate Adaptation

The RDI team welcomed the visitation of Dr. Ronan McDermott, an Assistant Professor in Cultural Geography and Climate Adaptation Governance at the University of Groningen from 21 until 22 March 2023. The visit was conducted in RDI Pahlawan Office, Bandung, West Java, and was purposed to strengthen the engagement as well as explore the potential project collaborations. RDI research officers, along with RDI Senior Research Fellows, Dr. Saut Sagala and Dr. Bony Wiem Lestari, joined the discussion for the prospective collaboration projects.

On the first day of the visit, the discussion about RDI was managed where An Nisaa Siti Humaira (Programme Officer) introduced the general information on RDI's past and current established works. The following agenda was presentations from Farijzal Arrafisena (Research Officer) who explain the research focus, pillars, and achievements of the Disaster and Climate Resilience (DCR) cluster. Next, Annisaa Indrarini (Research Officer) also introduced the Regional and Urban Policy (RUP) cluster and its details. The visit to RDI office was continued on the second day, which specifically to visit RDI Sangkuriang Office, Bandung, West Java. The visit also include of discussion on the potential project collaboration in the near future. Dr. Ronan also had further discussions with the DCR Cluster and Policy Advocacy and Community Empowerment (PACE) to understand better the recent projects by the cluster and center.

Later on, the second day's agenda was a public lecture. Dr. Ronan conducted a lecture on "The Governance of Climate Risk and Climate Adaptation" at the RDI Pahlawan Office. This lecture was moderated by Annisaa Indrarini and participated by RDI Officers, along with several students from Bandung Institute of Technology. In this lecture, Dr. Ronan explained the overview of risk components, including urban preparedness and resilience, systemic risk and its governance, as well as digital governance, climate adaptation, and accountability. As for now, some of the crucial points to highlight are first, how changing risk scape carries significant implications for governance. Secondly, the proliferation of digital forms of governance further enables networked and collaborative forms of governance. Thirdly, more networked, collaborative forms of governance. Last but not least, the ultimate implications of digital governance for accountable and effective climate adaptation are critically dependent upon the design of the digital governance mechanism; rootedness in local contexts; and perceived continuity with prevailing norms of deliberation. Afterward, the lecture was closed with the discussion by delivering the Q&A session amongst Dr. Ronan and the participants. RDI can’t wait for the upcoming valuable lessons from Dr. Ronan and also inspiring collaborations in near future.