# Risk Data Library Standard

The Risk Data Library Standard (RDLS) is an **open metadata standard** for describing risk datasets used in climate and disaster risk assessments.

The purpose of the RDLS is to enable risk reduction and resilience building by making it easier for risk data publishers to describe their datasets and for risk data users to identify datasets to use in their work. Many different organisations produce or use risk datasets, including humanitarian organisations, insurance companies, academic institutions and multi-lateral development banks.

The key feature of the RDLS is the metadata standard for describing **hazard**, **exposure**, **vulnerability**, and **loss** datasets. In addition to the metadata standard, the RDLS provides guidance on packaging and formatting for risk datasets, although it does not seek to standardise the contents of risk datasets.

The RDLS is curated by the [Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery](https://www.gfdrr.org) and is intended for use by anyone involved in publishing or using disaster risk data. It is an open standard and community contributions are welcome.

The standard originated from in-depth consultations with the disaster and climate risk modeling community on improving access to risk datasets. It is the result of the collective effort and ongoing support of internationally-recognised research institutions and established global partnerships, bring together expertise in multiple hazards and all aspects of risk assessment.

To help you use RDLS effectively, the documentation includes the following sections:

- An [introduction](rdl/index.md) to the RDLS
- [Reference](reference/index.md) documentation for the metadata standard
- [Guidance](guides/index.md) on how to publish metadata in RDLS format and how to package and format risk datasets
- A [glossary](glossary.md) of risk terminology
- Background information [about](about/index.md) the RDLS, including how it is governed, its history and roadmap, and who to contact for more information

```{eval-rst}
.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1
   :hidden:

   rdl/index
   reference/index
   guides/index
   glossary
   about/index
```