For the “Study Guide” click here

Topic A: Energy Security

Energy and its availability cannot be taken for granted even in the best of times. Energy security has changed dramatically since the great oil supply disruptions of the 1970s and is capturing headlines worldwide. After nearly two decades of comfortable supply margins, the global energy system is now stretched to the breaking point. The recent Russian-Ukrainian natural gas dispute and oil disruptions elsewhere highlight the importance of the issue on the geopolitical agenda.

The renewed focus on energy security is driven in part by an exceedingly tight oil market and by high oil prices, which have doubled over the past three years. But it is also fueled by the threat of terrorism, instability in some exporting nations, a nationalist backlash, fears of a scramble for supplies, geopolitical rivalries, and countries’ fundamental need for energy to power their economic growth. In the background — but not too far back — is renewed anxiety over whether there will be sufficient resources to meet the world’s energy requirements in the decades ahead.

Concerns over energy security are not limited to oil. Power blackouts on both the East and West Coasts of the United States, in Europe, and in Russia, as well as chronic shortages of electric power in China, India, and other developing countries; have raised worries about the reliability of electricity supply systems. When it comes to natural gas, rising demand and constrained supplies mean that North America can no longer be self-reliant, and so the United States is joining the new global market in natural gas that will link countries, continents, and prices together in an unprecedented way.

Regional and social turmoil still unsettles key producing areas. However, global terrorism threatens the entire supply system. Iraq’s production is more constrained than many anticipated before the Iraq War and it remains vulnerable to sabotage and terrorism. There is growing concern that rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program could lead to a new oil disruption.

The traditional energy security elements – supply sources, demand centers, geopolitics and market structures – have been joined by additional considerations. These include the inter-connectedness of world economies and energy infrastructure systems, climate change concerns, technological innovation and increased pressure from a broader array of stakeholders.

However, the next crisis no doubt will have different causes. The changes in supply sources, demand centers, geopolitics and market structures with the addition of supply chain integration, new technologies, public scrutiny and climate change will certainly require fresh solutions. The roles of China, India and Russia will weigh on both the supply and demand elements.

Topic B: Disaster Relief Management

Various disasters like earthquake, landslides, volcanic eruptions, fires, flood and cyclones are natural hazards that kill thousands of people and destroy billions of dollars of habitat and property each year. The rapid growth of the world’s population and its increased concentration often in hazardous environment has escalated both the frequency and severity of natural disasters. With the tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with deforestation, unplanned growth proliferation non-engineered constructions which make the disaster-prone areas mere vulnerable, tardy communication, poor or no budgetary allocation for disaster prevention, developing countries suffer more or less chronically by natural disasters. Asia tops the list of casualties due to natural disaster.

Among various natural hazards, earthquakes, landslides, floods and cyclones are the major disasters adversely affecting very large areas and population in the Indian sub-continent. These natural disasters are of (i) geophysical origin such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and (ii) climatic origin such as drought, flood, cyclone, locust, forest fire. Though it may not be feasible to control nature and to stop the development of natural phenomena but the efforts could be made to avoid disasters and alleviate their effects on human lives, infrastructure and property. Rising frequency, amplitude and number of natural disasters and attendant problem coupled with loss of human lives prompted the General Assembly of the United Nations to proclaim 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) through a resolution 44/236 of December 22, 1989 to focus on all issues related to natural disaster reduction. In spite of IDNDR, there had been a string of major disaster throughout the decade. Nevertheless, by establishing the rich disaster management related traditions and by spreading public awareness the IDNDR provided required stimulus for disaster reduction.

It is almost impossible to prevent the occurrence of natural disasters and their damages. However, it is possible to reduce the impact of disasters by adopting suitable disaster mitigation strategies. The disaster mitigation works mainly address the following: (i) minimize the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies, (ii) prepare and implement developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters, (iii) mobilize resources including communication and tele-medicinal services and (iv) to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reduction. Disaster management on the other hand involves: (i) pre-disaster planning, preparedness, monitoring including relief management capability, (ii) prediction and early warning, (iii) damage assessment and relief management. Disaster reduction is a systematic work which involves with different regions, different professions and different scientific fields, and has become an important measure for human, society and nature sustainable development. One of the critical problems in disaster relief management is the lack of reliable data on basic needs on the ground after a major natural disaster. Disaster relief efforts must overcome serious logistical problems due to poor communication and unreliable information.