{"id":582002,"date":"2026-04-07T22:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?post_type=blog&p=582002"},"modified":"2026-04-07T22:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:40:20","slug":"gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus","title":{"rendered":"GIS, Risk, and the Triple Nexus"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of the Rethinking Humanitarian Action with a Geographic Approach<\/strong><\/a> blog series.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

If localization and ownership define who should drive humanitarian and disaster risk management, geography helps us understand where and how risk is produced and experienced.<\/p>\n\n

This isn\u2019t an abstract theory. Every hazard has a footprint. Every vulnerability has a location. Every capacity exists somewhere specific. Humanitarian aid and disaster risk management (DRM) efforts are, at their core, geographic challenges. Our tools need to reflect that.<\/p>\n\n

Geography Matters<\/h2>\n\n

I joined Esri because I believe in a geographic approach\u2014one that sees geography as a means to better understand the interconnectedness of our world. Humanitarian aid and DRM efforts are inherently geographic challenges.<\/p>\n\n

Hazards have a spatial location and extent. They also have multiple geographic drivers, whether geopolitical, socioeconomic, climatological, geological, or technological. People\u2019s spatial proximity to a hazard increases their exposure to it. Depending on their coping capacity, this turns a hazard into a higher or lower risk to their lives and livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n

Available risk mitigation measures depend on the geographic layout and spatial distribution of populations and infrastructure. So do disaster preparedness plans. So do disaster response operations. These aren\u2019t secondary considerations. They\u2019re fundamental to how risk manifests and how we can address it.<\/p>\n\n

As such, DRM and humanitarian assistance must leverage geographic knowledge. We need to understand the distribution and spatial relationships between the drivers of risk, hazards, vulnerability, exposure, and coping capacity. Risk is, at its core, geographic. A humanitarian strategy that ignores geography? Incomplete by definition.<\/p>\n\n

Geographic information system (GIS) technology has, for this reason, become a mainstay of the humanitarian toolkit. Advances in online GIS technology, along with efforts to reduce barriers to accessing the underlying technology, now allow a much wider range of stakeholders to participate. Local communities, national agencies, and international organizations can all connect to and contribute to shared geographic \u201csystems of systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

You might\u2019ve come across different terms. Geospatial infrastructure. Spatial data infrastructure. They all refer to the same thing: the set of spatial data services, data standards, and connected hardware and software infrastructures that form a network of geospatial capabilities and insight.<\/p>\n\n

The idea of an integrated geospatial infrastructure\u2014my preferred term\u2014is important not only for the knowledge it generates and disseminates, but also because building it requires stakeholders to come together and share their perspectives. GIS technology supports inclusive humanitarian and disaster risk management processes not only through its analytical power, but also through its ability to bring people into conversation.<\/p>\n\n

The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat<\/a> demonstrates this. They\u2019re a humanitarian and development agency that helps communities in disaster-prone regions plan and build safer, more resilient settlements. Their participatory, GIS technology\u2013enabled disaster risk reduction work shows what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n\n

Collaborate and Operationalize the Nexus<\/h2>\n\n

There\u2019s no better time than in the midst of gloomy news to remind ourselves of this: We\u2019re better together.<\/p>\n\n

Modern online GIS technology offers an opportunity to connect our data, communicate our insights, and collaborate. Therefore, we can tackle global challenges in their multiple dimensions. This, of course, is also the principle behind the triple nexus approach, which seeks to connect humanitarian aid, development, and peacebuilding efforts and recognize their interdependencies.<\/p>\n\n

It has, however, been a notoriously difficult notion to operationalize. Financial silos. Different time horizons. Fragmented information systems. The nexus often remains an aspiration rather than a lived practice.<\/p>\n\n

The advent of modern online GIS technology and the development of geospatial infrastructures offer a fresh opportunity to truly integrate knowledge, understanding, and action across sectors. GIS technology facilitates seamless connection and integration of data from different sectors. By enabling the sharing of spatial data and insights and the compilation of holistic, common operating pictures, it supports a more coordinated and informed approach to addressing our complex challenges.<\/p>\n\n

This interconnected, data-driven approach ensures that all actors work towards common goals. They leverage each other\u2019s strengths and knowledge to create more resilient and cohesive communities. When we see risk as geographic, GIS technology stops being a niche technical add-on. It becomes part of the core architecture of humanitarian and disaster risk management.<\/p>\n\n

Geography gives us a common language. We can understand where hazards, vulnerabilities, and capacities intersect. GIS technology offers a practical way to make the triple nexus something we can act on rather than simply discuss.<\/p>\n\n

The question isn\u2019t whether the tools exist. They do. The question is how we choose to organize around them.<\/p>\n\n

We\u2019ve established that effective humanitarian response requires local and national ownership\u2014that\u2019s the \u201cwho.\u201d We\u2019ve established that risk is fundamentally geographic\u2014that\u2019s the \u201cwhere\u201d and the \u201cwhy.\u201d Now the question becomes concrete: How do we actually build these connected, locally owned, geographically informed systems?<\/p>\n\n

In the final article in this series, I\u2019ll look at one concrete effort to do exactly that\u2014Esri\u2019s National Disaster Risk Management Geospatial Capacity Program\u2014and what it might tell us about building national and regional meshes in practice.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1122,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[204],"tags":[451,6533,5252,287],"class_list":["post-582002","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-safety","tag-arcgis","tag-disaster-management","tag-disaster-response","tag-gis","industry-humanitarian-assistance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGIS, Risk, and the Triple Nexus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how GIS and integrated geospatial infrastructure support locally owned, connected humanitarian and disaster risk management.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GIS, Risk, and the Triple Nexus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how GIS and integrated geospatial infrastructure support locally owned, connected humanitarian and disaster risk management.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Industry Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T22:40:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus\",\"name\":\"GIS, Risk, and the Triple Nexus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-07T22:40:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-07T22:40:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn how GIS and integrated geospatial infrastructure support locally owned, connected humanitarian and disaster risk management.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/gis-risk-and-the-triple-nexus#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GIS, Risk, and the Triple Nexus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Industry Blogs\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3cac7b1a7bb738c3df8ebfad7e5e9715\",\"name\":\"Bryce Peacher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BrycePeacherHeadshotLg-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BrycePeacherHeadshotLg-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Bryce Peacher\"},\"description\":\"Bryce Peacher is an industry marketing manager specializing in GIS solutions for security and resilience. 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