Most communities face risks which they have to assess and manage. Risks may arise from human activities such as industrial accidents, or they may be of natural origin such as floods, earthquakes, etc. Risks need to be taken into account in the decision making process of the overall disaster management policy of such communities. Assessing risks is not an easy task. It requires conducting in-depth studies, which will only be justified if the expected level of risk is high. Against this background, UNEP decided to develop this Community Risk Profile (CRP) tool to provide communities with a means of making a rough estimate of various types of risks they are exposed to, supporting the decision making process, especially as to whether or not further assessments are needed. The CRP is not, therefore, a risk assessment tool. It is a tool that will provide users with a qualitative approach to characterise an expected level of risk and thus decide on the necessity for further assessment. It is also a tool that can be used to support awareness raising and capacity building activities.