DRR negotiations resume next week

GENEVA, 9 January 2015 - The draft programme for the first global conference on disasters in ten years has been published by UNISDR ahead of negotiations next week in Geneva on a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, the first of three interlocking international agreements expected this year.

The Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, hosted by the Japanese city of Sendai from 14-18 March, is set to draw up to 8,000 accredited delegates from governments, civil society and the business world.

It is due to adopt an updated version of the world’s first comprehensive blueprint for reducing risk, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), agreed in 2005 following the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

As many as 40,000 members of the public are expected to flock to the conference venues to attend side-events organized by NGOs and civil society organizations.

The vast array of issues which will be debated and discussed over the conference’s five days range from the lessons of mega disasters including earthquakes and tsunamis to reducing the risk of pandemics such as Ebola and bird flu.

Children and youth from around the world will meet in a session entitled “Don’t decide my future without me”. Other events will address the role of business and the private sector in reducing economic losses from disasters.

Meanwhile, delegates from scores of countries are scheduled to meet in Geneva from 12-16 January to try to put the finishing touches to the document that will be on the table in Sendai. The accord will chart the global path for the next decade and beyond in the face of population growth, rapid urbanization, climate change and other drivers of risk.

The debates next week are expected to cover issues such as time-based targets and commitments on limiting disaster mortality and economic damage – the latter has continued to swell, the inflation-adjusted annual average hitting US$190 billion in the past 10 years, compared with US$130 billion in the past 30 years. Other areas include spurring bilateral, regional and international cooperation on risk reduction, ensuring all arms of the community are involved, and promoting resilience to shocks.

Also among the key goals of the updated HFA are to improve understanding of risk in all its forms, whether in communities, the private sector, local and national governments , as well as at the regional level. In addition, it is set to address how better to harness the power of community-based knowledge, science and technology to reduce risk; to enable early warning systems to reach all concerned and result in action; and to ensure that countries which are most in need and vulnerable are able to implement the framework.

The World Conference also comes at a unique juncture, given that it is the first of three high-level international meetings all pursuing one goal: making development sustainable. Reducing risk and bolstering resilience is an essential pillar of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, the focus of a summit of world leaders in New York in September. Then, in December, the UN Climate Change Conference will take place in Paris. The overarching aim is to provide tangible solutions for a comprehensive and risk-sensitive development agenda, laying the foundations for a more resilient planet in the 21st century.

The 2005 World Conference which adopted the HFA took place in the Japanese city of Kobe, battered by an earthquake 10 years earlier. No stranger to disasters, Japan has a reputation for best practice in meeting them head on. The country also hosted the first ever World Conference, in Yokohama in 1994, launching the global drive to create a culture of risk reduction, preparedness and prevention.

Sendai is a fitting host. It is the largest city in the region of Tohoku, which was hit hard by the Great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011. It stood out for its rapid restoration of utilities, roads and homes, and the clearance of debris, all within 18 months of the disaster and always with open communication with residents. As a result, UNISDR in 2012 recognized Sendai as a role model for its Making Cities Resilient Campaign.

The World Conference agenda is available at the WCDRR website.

For more details on next week’s negotiations, please visit: http://www.wcdrr.org/preparatory/negotiations