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SAFER WORLD IN THE 21st CENTURY
Disaster
and Risk Reduction ISDR genral guideline
INTRODUCTION
- While hazards are inevitable, and the elimination of all risk is impossible,
there are many technical measures, traditional practices, and public experience
that can reduce the extent or severity of economic and social disasters.
Hazards and emergency requirements are a part of living with nature, but
human behaviour can be changed. In the words of the Secretary General,
"We must, above all, shift from a culture of reaction to a culture of
prevention. Prevention is not only more humane than cure; it is also much
cheaper... Above all, let us not forget that disaster prevention is a
moral imperative, no less than reducing the risks of war".
VISION - To
enable all communities to become resilient to the effects of natural,
technological and environmental hazards, reducing the compound risks they
pose to social and economic vulnerabilities within modern societies. To
proceed from protection against hazards to the management of risk through
the integration of risk prevention into sustainable development.
GOALS : I.
Increase public awareness of the risks that natural, technological and
environmental hazards pose to modern societies. II. Obtain commitment
by public authorities to reduce risks to people, their livelihoods, social
and economic infrastructure, and environmental resources. III.
Engage public participation at all levels of implementation to create
disaster-resistant communities through increased partnership and expanded
risk reduction networks at all levels. IV. Reduce the economic
and social losses of disasters as measured, for example, by Gross Domestic
Product.
OBJECTIVES
: 1. Stimulate research and application, provide knowledge, convey
experience, build capabilities and allocate necessary resources for reducing
or preventing severe and recurrent impacts of hazards, for those people
most vulnerable. 2. Increase opportunities for organizations and
multi-disciplinary relationships to foster more scientific and technical
contributions to the public decision-making process in matters of hazard,
risk and disaster prevention. 3. Develop a more proactive interface
between management of natural resources and risk reduction practices.
4. Form a global community dedicated to making risk and disaster
prevention a public value. 5. Link risk prevention and economic
competitiveness issues to enhance opportunities for greater economic partnerships.
6. Complete comprehensive risk assessments and integrate them within
development plans. 7. Develop and apply risk reduction strategies
and mitigation measures with supporting arrangements and resources for
disaster prevention at all levels of activity 8. Identify and engage
designated authorities, professionals drawn from the widest possible range
of expertise, and community leaders to develop increased partnership activities.
9. Establish risk monitoring capabilities, and early warning systems
as integrated processes, with particular attention being given to emerging
hazards with global implications such as those related to climate variation
and change, at all levels of responsibility. 10. Develop sustained
programmes of public information and institutionalized educational components
pertaining to hazards and their effects, risk management practices and
disaster prevention activities, for all ages. 11. Establish internationally
and professionally agreed standards / methodologies for the analysis and
expression of the socio-economic impacts of disasters on societies. 12.
Seek innovative funding mechanisms dedicated to sustained risk and disaster
prevention activities.
IMPLEMENTATION
- Conduct a national audit or assessment process of existing functions
necessary for a comprehensive and integrated national strategy of hazard,
risk and disaster prevention, projected over 5-10 and 20 year time periods.
Conduct dynamic risk analysis with specific consideration of demographics,
urban growth, and the interaction or compound relationships between natural,
technological and environmental factors. Build, or where existing, strengthen
regional/sub-regional, national and international approaches, and collaborative
organizational arrangements that can increase hazard, risk and disaster
prevention capabilities and activities. Establish coordination mechanisms
for greater coherence and improved effectiveness of combined hazard, risk
and disaster prevention strategies at all levels of responsibility. Promote
and encourage know-how transfer through partnership and among countries
with particular attention given in the transfer of experience amongst
those countries most exposed to risks. Establish national, regional/sub-regional,
and global information exchanges, facilities, or websites dedicated to
hazard, risk and disaster prevention, linked by agreed communication standards
and protocols to facilitate interchange. Link efforts of hazard, risk
and disaster prevention more closely with the Agenda 21 implementation
process for enhanced synergy with environmental and sustainable development
issues. Focus multi-year risk reduction strategies on urban concentration
and mega-city environments. Institute comprehensive application of land-use
planning and programmes in hazard prone-environments. Develop and apply
standard forms of statistical recording of risk factors, disaster occurrences
and their consequences to enable more consistent comparisons. Undertake
periodic reviews of accomplishments in hazard, risk and disaster reduction
efforts at all levels of engagement and responsibility. Study feasibility
of specific alternative funding and resource allocation modalities that
can ensure continued commitment to sustained risk and disaster prevention
strategies.
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES
- Governments have the primary responsibility for protecting citizens
from risks and disaster, however, local communities and elements of civil
society most threatened by hazards emerge as key initiators of important
risk and disaster prevention actions. They must work through partnership,
and together, receive necessary encouragement and support to realize the
vision of disaster resilience. Regional/sub-regional and international
collaboration is essential, especially with regard to the dissemination
of experience and information, scientific and technical applications,
continual advocacy and the coordination of strategies to assist in the
development of national capabilities. The United Nations system has a
special leadership role in global risk and disaster reduction by its universal
character, inter-disciplinary and multi-sectoral scope, and role as a
forum for global dialogue. It should address global risk issues, ensure
coherence among humanitarian aid, disaster prevention and development,
and promote collaboration among countries.
REVIEW - The
strategy, A Safer World in the 21st Century: Risk and Disaster Reduction,
should be closely monitored by the risk and disaster reduction community,
and a global review of progress and accomplishments should be undertaken
by all concerned parties within a period of five years.
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Preliminary and global part outcome Document: Chair’s Summary of the Second Session
Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
Disaster risk and the Global Platform - Geneva 16th - 19th of June 2009
1. The second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction took place in a
context of growing alarm about global climate change and increasing disaster risks. In the
opening high-level panel of the Global Platform, political leaders including heads of State
and heads of Governments highlighted in stark, unequivocal terms that reducing disaster
risk is critical to managing the impacts of climate change and avoiding an erosion of
social and economic welfare. 2. Since the first session of the Global Platform in 2007 there has been a dramatic increase
in political will in all regions to address disaster risk, across both developed and
developing nations and both governments and civil society. This increase has been driven
from the bottom up as communities recognize the dangers they face and the need for
action. The energy and leadership in disaster risk reduction are now increasingly coming
from the South.
3. The Global Platform recognized that significant progress has been achieved since the
Hyogo Framework of Action was endorsed by UN member states in 2005, as reported in
the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, particularly in terms of life saving
measures such as improved disaster preparedness and response, but that much
more needed to be done. Governments, civil society and other partners were united in
recognizing that greater urgency is now required to address the factors that are driving the
increase in disaster risk, such as rural poverty and vulnerability, unplanned and poorly
managed urban growth and declining ecosystems. Such urgent action is necessary not
only to reduce disaster risk, but also to maintain momentum in poverty reduction and to
adapt to climate change.
4. As the deliberations of the Global Platform progressed it became clear that innovative
approaches and tools have been developed and applied in many key areas such as: the
management of urban risks; the application of cost benefit analysis; community based
and local level strategies; early warning; and ensuring the security of facilities such as
schools and hospitals. 5. The Global Platform highlighted the importance of sharing knowledge, including
indigenous and traditional knowledge, and ensuring easy and systematic access to best
practice and tools and international standards, tailored to specific sectors, as well as the
necessity for investment in research and development and the more effective integration
of science and technical information into policy and practice.
6. Risk-prone countries are now giving the highest priority to disaster risk reduction and
wish to move ahead quickly in the design and adoption of policies and strategies to
address their risks. Increasingly, the urgency for this movement is coming from the
vulnerable developing countries, which are likely to bear an increasingly disproportionate
share of disaster impacts in times to come. National and regional platforms and
organizations are being rapidly developed or strengthened to guide and coordinate this
action, and it is incumbent on the international community to support them and facilitate
access to the resources, assistance and expertise, as a matter of urgency. |
