Tiempo Climate Newswatch, International Disaster Reduction

Increasingly, the international community is recognizing that disaster reduction strategies must be developed to provide long-term risk and capacity management that encompasses the complexity of interdependent systems and strengthens resilience in the face of climate change. Newswatch Editor Sarah Granich reports.

Over the past few years, almost every region of the world has experienced some form of disaster. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, infrastructure destroyed and livelihoods reduced to survival levels of existence. Not all of the disasters have been caused by natural events, many have been of technological origin. Whatever the cause, it is clear that the global community urgently needs to develop management strategies that immediately and effectively deal with the potential cause of disasters and the immediate response and recovery from them.

At the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Japan, in January 2005, 168 governments adopted a ten-year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards.

The Hyogo Framework is "a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction efforts during the next decade. Its goal is to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 - in lives, and in the social, economic, and environmental assets of communities and countries. The Hyogo Framework offers guiding principles, priorities for action, and practical means for achieving disaster resilience for vulnerable communities."

A number of priorities for action are outlined in the Hyogo Framework to serve as guidance for states, regional organizations, institutions, civil society, the scientific community, the media, the private sector and individuals, all of whom are vital stakeholders in cooperating on disaster risk reduction. Action points include:

make disaster risk reduction a priority - ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation;
know the risks and take action - identify, assess and monitor disaster risks, and enhance early warning;
build understanding and awareness - use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels;
reduce risk - reduce the underlying risk factors; and,
be prepared and ready to act - strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) was ratified by the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly during the 1999 meeting of its Commission on Sustainable Development. The Secretary-General's report on ISDR implementation and the Hyogo Framework for Action were discussed at the United Nations General Assembly in October 2006. When presenting the Secretary-General's report, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland made the following remarks.

"At the international level, climate change and early warning are two areas where national concerns are being matched by new thinking. Disaster risk reduction policies and practices offer proven win-win approaches for adapting to changing climate risks. Meanwhile, the Global Survey of Early Warning Systems [0.9Mb download] sets out a strong set of recommendations to implement a globally comprehensive early warning system.

"To make real progress, States must abide by their commitments to make real their commitments under the Hyogo Framework for Action. States agreed that they are primarily responsible for the effective implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action. Reports to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat show that more and more countries are engaging actively, but also that some are still not. In August this year, when the report in front of you was produced, 60 countries had officially nominated focal points. Today that number has risen to 87. The benefit of these focal points is to enhance multi stakeholder as well as regional and international coordination for more effective risk reduction."

He noted that "in keeping with the Hyogo Framework, risk awareness and education have been highlighted in national agendas. Bangladesh, Cuba, Romania, Iran, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malawi, Haiti and Nepal - to mention some - have started initiatives to build knowledge of local hazards and risks through primary and secondary public education."

In recognition of the increasing vulnerability of societies world-wide, a growing number of institutions and alliances are working together to design and integrate state-of-the-art coping and management strategies.

The Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction comprises of more than 1000 experts on disaster reduction and related aspects of sustainable development. These experts come from a broad range of regional, national and international organizations, such as the United Nations, environmental and disaster mitigation agencies, institutes and relief organizations and the World Bank. The Alliance is headquartered at the University of North Carolina Charlotte in the United States under the institutional leadership of the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems.

The Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction has three main objectives:

to mobilize intellectual and material resources to address several issues that will enable businesses and public agencies to mitigate the impacts of natural and technological hazards;
to serve as a catalyst for ongoing national and international projects by providing opportunities for expansion of technical and political capacity, building of multinational networks, convening of forums and conferences and capacity enhancements for centres of excellence to implement programmes to reduce the impacts of disasters; and,
to cause major paradigm shifts in disaster control from disaster impact focus (posterior) to disaster prevention (anterior) in all disciplines, national and regional infrastructure plans and educational programmes.

The Alliance has developed the Toolbox for Global Disaster Reduction, a CD-ROM intended to assist professionals throughout the world in ongoing endeavours to reduce the socioeconomic impacts of natural and technological disasters in their communities. The Toolbox contains Powerpoint presentations, 'blueprints' covering topics and regions and other information and data.

"The right information, in the right format, to the right people, at the right time" is the working plan of the Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN). The Network grew from the shared frustrations of experts of many lands who either found it hard to find relevant, existing information in short order, or could not efficiently or cost-effectively change existing information into more useful formats. In addition, because less than three per cent of the world has effective access to the Internet, disaster managers have often been frustrated by poor telecommunications.

GDIN focuses on providing assistance in natural or technological disasters, helping in complex humanitarian emergencies and is, throughout, politically neutral. A collaborative association of experts from international organizations, non-governmental organizations, governments, industry, academia and donor organizations, it is a voluntary, independent, self-sustaining, non-profit association with all acting executives and committees elected at the annual conferences.

As an informal international body and facilitator of information, GDIN:

offers a suite of services or acts as a one-stop centre linking users with the appropriate information provider;
pays, on special occasions, for information when the disaster manager cannot;
fosters the development of pilot projects; and,
provides integration across disaster regions to share information quickly.

The Network promotes pilot projects to illustrate the usefulness of emerging technologies in the field of disaster management and to demonstrate GDIN standards and procedures. In Turkey, one pilot project, the Rapid Deployable Emergency Housing Initiative, is exploring the use of a unique flat-pack, prefabricated, mobile field accommodation, which can be used as a shelter, temporary home or as a supplementary unit for field facilities.

In late August 2006, the International Disaster Reduction Conference 2006 was held in Davos, Switzerland. The conference was jointly organized by the Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, the Global Disaster Information Network, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

The meeting took an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to address risks affecting society such as natural hazards and technological failures as well as human-induced risk factors such as climate change, pandemics and terrorism.

The conference participants produced the Davos 2006 Declaration, which calls on the international community to join in an integrated and participatory approach to coping with disasters and risks.

The Declaration includes the following recommendations.

To achieve the Millennium Development Goals, disaster risk reduction has to become an important and comprehensive part of the whole planning process for poverty reduction, food and water security, education and health.
National strategies that integrate all types of measures and risks are needed. Disaster risk management and natural resource management have to go hand in hand.
When designing community and rural risk management plans, people, livestock and other agricultural assets must be protected in order to preserve livelihoods, and reduce poverty, hunger, water shortage and the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Environmental degradation, whether creeping change or acute emergencies, poses grave risks to human communities. Protection of vital ecosystem services is fundamental to reducing vulnerability to disasters and strengthening community resilience.
A better working relationship between the scientific community and end-users, be they mitigators, planners, educators, communicators or responders, is of prime importance. The end-user's needs have to be better articulated and the knowledge management improved.

At Davos, participants from Africa advanced plans for promoting mutual interest and cooperation in disaster risk reduction for safer, disaster-resilient communities. The Central Asian delegation considered that adopting the principles of integrated water resources management and increasing coordination at the national, interstate and global level will offer a good chance to reduce vulnerability.

The ISDR Secretariat and its partners, UNESCO, the United Nations Children's Fund, ActionAid International and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have made disaster risk reduction education and safer school facilities the two key themes of the 2006-2007 World Disaster Reduction Campaign.

The Campaign theme is "Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School." The aim is to inform and mobilize governments, communities and individuals to ensure that disaster risk reduction is fully integrated into school curricula in high-risk countries and that school buildings are built or retrofitted to withstand natural hazards.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his message on the International Day for Disaster Reduction in 2003, said: "Natural hazards are a part of life. But hazards only become disasters when people's lives and livelihoods are swept away... Let us remind ourselves that we can and must reduce the impact of disasters by building sustainable communities that have long-term capacity to live with risk." These words remain as relevant today as they were three years ago.

Further information

UN/ISDR, International Environment House II, 7-9 Chemin de Balexert, CH 1219 Chatelaine, Geneva 10, Switzerland. Fax: +41-22-9178964. Email: isdr@un.org. Web: www.unisdr.org/isdrindex.htm

On the Web

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction produces an online newsletter covering disaster reduction and climate change, DR+CC Infolink, which aims to facilitate, share and disseminate information and includes news and dialogue on related issues. It is produced by the Inter-Agency Task Force Working Group on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction, which is the principal body for the development of disaster reduction policy within the United Nations system. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction also maintains a list of educational websites concerned with risk reduction.

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