Extreme geohazards have the potential to escalate the global sustainability crisis and put us close to the boundaries of the safe operating space for humanity. The sensitivity of the built environment and the embedded socio-economic fabric have changed, increasing the exposure of assets to geohazards dramatically in recent decades. Climate change will further increase exposure to some hazards. We are putting the urban environment, including megacities, in harm's way.

With support from the European Science Foundation (ESF), the Geohazards Community of
Practice (GHCP) of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) has prepared a White Paper on the
risk associated with low-probability, high-impact geohazards (see http://www.geohazcop.org/projects/extgeowp). These extreme events are in
general not sufficiently accounted for in risk management, although the potential impacts of
these events are comparable to those of a large asteroid, a global pandemic, or an extreme
drought. The White Paper aims to increase the awareness of the risk associated with extreme
geohazards as a basis for a comprehensive risk management.

We will present the main conclusions and recommendations of the White Paper and discuss specific steps towards disaster risk reduction and increased resilience for the case of extreme geohazards. More information on the meeting will be made available at the GHCP web page at http://www.geohazcop.org/workshops.