Discussions on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction were held at the 7th Regional Action on Climate Change (RACC ) meeting held in Kyoto preceding the Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum meetings. Ismail serageldin was one of a small group who organized the RACC in 2009 as an STS side event on climate change impacts and adaptation. It is now held as an annual meeting formally connected to the STS Forum and this year’s focus was on Disaster Risk Reduction. In breakout sessions held by regions ( Africa/Europe, Americas and Asia), where speakers expressed their vision and ideas towards regional actions, Serageldin was rapporteur on the Africa/ Europe session. Discussion leader of the session was Adel El-Beltagy, Chair, International Dryland Development Commission (IDDC); Former Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt. Speakers were: Pavel Kabat, Director General and CEO, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Netherlands; Eisa El Gaali, President, Sudan Academy of Sciences;. Sebastian van Dahlen, Principal Administrator, International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Switzerland. Serageldin also chaired the summary discussion at the end of the group sessions.
RACC was created to bring issues of climate science to the attention of the worlds’ business, policy and scientific leaders at the STS Forum, so as to build bridges between those who have expert knowledge and those with the power to take action. Serageldin is a member of the RACC Governing Board.