mitigálás

Mitigálás is the process of reducing the likelihood or impact of a threat by planning and implementing measures. It is applied in risk management, disaster risk reduction, environmental policy, construction, and health care.

Common aims are to lower exposure, decrease vulnerability, and lessen potential damages. Measures can be structural, such as barriers and improved infrastructure, or non-structural, such as policies, planning rules, training, and public awareness. In environmental and climate policy, mitigation often refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions or enhancing sinks, in contrast to adaptation, which seeks to cope with unavoidable impacts.

Mitigation follows a risk management cycle: identify risks, assess their probability and consequence, prioritize actions, select and implement measures, and monitor outcomes. A widely used concept is the mitigation hierarchy: avoid the hazard where possible, minimize residual risk, restore damaged systems, and offsets for unavoidable impacts.

Examples include stricter building codes to reduce earthquake or flood risk, land-use zoning to prevent exposure, energy efficiency and renewable energy to lower emissions, flood defenses, early warning systems, and public education campaigns. The effectiveness of mitigálás depends on early planning, stakeholder involvement, appropriate resources, and ongoing evaluation.

See also: risk mitigation, climate change mitigation, disaster risk reduction.