January 2004

Welcome to 2004! The ISDR Secretariat hopes you had an enjoyable and restful holiday.

Japan to host World Conference on Disaster Reduction
On 23 December 2003 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/58/214 announcing the convening of a World Conference on Disaster Reduction, to be organized by UN/ISDR and hosted by the Government of Japan at Kobe, Hyogo from 18 to 22 January 2005.

The Conference will aim to conclude the review of the Yokohama Strategy and its Plan of Action; identify specific activities aimed at ensuring implementation of the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development on vulnerability, risk assessment and disaster management; share best practices and lessons learned to further disaster reduction and identify gaps and challenges; increase awareness of the importance of disaster reduction policies; and increase the reliability and availability of appropriate disaster-related information to the public and disaster management agencies.

When the resolution will have been put on-line, you can download it by going into
www.un.org/Main Bodies/General Assembly/Resolutions.
Further information about the World Conference on Disaster Reduction is available at http://www.unisdr.org/

On-line extracts of Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives
Following the overwhelming feedback received for the preliminary edition of 2002, the ISDR Secretariat is pleased to present on-line extracts of the upcoming revised version of the publication Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiatives (available for purchase in 2004). The revised version takes into consideration those comments received based on the previous edition, incorporating further developments, providing more in-depth analysis as well as comprehensive coverage of current activities in disaster risk reduction.
To access the on-line extracts, please refer to http://www.unisdr.org/eng/about_isdr/basic_docs/LwR2003/lwr-03-table-contents-eng.htm

2004 UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction
Nominations are now being accepted for the 2004 UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction. Join us in rewarding individuals and institutions from around the world who contributed, through innovative practices and outstanding initiatives, to reducing the risk and vulnerabilities of communities to natural hazards!
To download the nomination form (available in English/French/Russian/Spanish), please refer to http://www.unisdr.org/
For further information on the UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction, please refer to http://www.unisdr.org/eng/sasakawa/sk-about-eng.htm

Disaster reduction and the information society
UN/ISDR has prepared a background paper contributing to the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to be held in Geneva (10-12 December 2003) entitled Information systems and disaster risk reduction, recommending how to incorporate disaster risk reduction in the Summit's outcomes and follow-up activities.
To download the paper, please refer to http://www.unisdr.org/news/WSIS/WSIS.pdf
For further information on the WSIS, please refer to http://www.itu.int/wsis/

Disaster reduction input to the 9th Conference of the Parties
At the first meeting the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) during the ninth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-9) in Milan, Italy, UN/ISDR made a statement concerning the linkages between the disaster risk reduction and climate change agendas.
To download the statement, please refer to
http://www.unisdr.org/news/varios/ISDR Statement COP-9 SBSTA.doc
For further information on COP-9, please refer to http://unfccc.int/cop9/index.html

CD ROM on Honduras launched at Mitch+5 Forum
Within the framework of project 'Central American Disaster Information Network', the ISDR coordinated Regional Disaster Information Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID), together with the National University of Honduras, produced and disseminated a new CD with disaster related information focused on Honduras. The product, which was presented at the regional Mitch +5 Forum that took place in December 2003, includes 133 full-text documents, 13 websites and 29 institutional contacts.
To download the contents of the CD ROM, please refer to http://www.crid.or.cr/crid/CD_Honduras/index.htm

ISDR Highlights is a monthly email update on current news in disaster reduction published by the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR). Please direct all enquiries (including subscription requests) to: isdr@un.org