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The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) was created in December 1999 to ensure the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (General Assembly (GA) resolution 54/219).UNISDR Mandate
UNISDR, Retrieved 14 August 2015
UNDRR (formerly UNISDR) is part of the
United Nations Secretariat The United Nations Secretariat (french: link=no, Secrétariat des Nations unies) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), The secretariat is the UN's executive arm. The secretariat has an important role in setting the a ...
and it supports the implementation & review of the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) is an international document that was adopted by the United Nations (UN) member states between 14 and 18 March 2015 at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Ja ...
adopted by the Third UN
World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is a series of United Nations conferences focusing on disaster and climate risk management in the context of sustainable development. The World Conference has been convened three times, with each edit ...
on 18 March 2015 in
Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The Sendai Framework is a 15-year voluntary people-centred approach to disaster risk reduction, succeeding the 2005-2015 framework. UNDRR’s vision is anchored on the four priorities for action set out in the Sendai Framework. UNDRR is led by a United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG) and has over 100 staff located in its headquarters in
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, 5 regional offices (Africa: Nairobi, the Americas: Panama City, Arab States: Cairo, Asia-Pacific: Bangkok and Europe: Brussels) and other field presences in Addis Ababa, Almaty, Bonn, Incheon, Kobe, New York-UN Headquarters, Rio de Janeiro and Suva. UNDRR coordinates international efforts in
Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster risk reduction (DRR) sometimes called disaster risk management (DRM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing w ...
(DRR) and it reports on the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. It convenes the biennial Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction. On 1 May 2019, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction officially changed its acronym to UNDRR (from UNISDR) to better reflect its name. The former acronym had not been changed since the office was called the International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (see History below).


History

1989 International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction Given the increasing concern about the impact of disasters, the UN General Assembly declared 1990-1999 the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Initially, IDNDR was influenced largely by scientific and technical interest groups. However, the broader global awareness of the social and economic consequences of disasters caused by natural hazards developed as the decade progressed. 1994 First World Conference on Disaster Reduction and the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World The Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action was adopted at the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, building on the mid-term review of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. 1999 International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) was launched 3 by the Economic and Social Council and endorsed by the General Assembly as an international framework for responding to the challenge presented to the international community by the increasing incidence and scale of disasters. UNISDR was created as an inter-agency secretariat of ISDR together with the Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction. The UNISDR mandate was then expanded to serve as a focal point within the
United Nations System The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal organs (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the UN Secretariat), ...
for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the UN system and regional organizations and activities in socio-economic and humanitarian fields. Further mandates are to promote public awareness and commitment, to expand networks and partnerships, and to improve knowledge of disaster causes and options for risk reduction, building on the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action and as follow-up to the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. 2002 The Johannesburg Plan of Action The
World Summit on Sustainable Development The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, took place in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss ustainable developmentorganizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was the ...
(WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, noted that “an integrated, multi-hazard, inclusive approach to address vulnerability, risk assessment and disaster management, including prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, is an essential element of a safer world in the twenty- first century.”4 The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation provided UNISDR and the Inter-Agency Task Force with a concrete set of objectives for integrating and mainstreaming risk reduction into development policies and processes. 2005 Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction and the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 The World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in
Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, Hyogo,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and adopted the “Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters”, which is currently serving as the guiding document in strengthening and building international cooperation to ensure that disaster risk reduction is used as a foundation for sound national and international development agendas. 2007 First session of the Global Platform on Disaster Reduction The UN General Assembly established a biennial Global Platform on disaster risk reduction to support the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action, allowing government representatives, NGOs, scientists, practitioners, private sector, IFIs and UN organizations to share experiences, identify remaining gaps, formulate strategic guidance and advice for the implementation of the HFA. Six Regional Platforms and over 80 National Platforms have also been established as multi-stakeholder forums.5 Regional Platforms also assess progress but focus on the details of the regional plans of implementation and National Platforms act as the national coordinating body for disaster risk reduction. 2011 Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 The Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) charts out the international community’s vision and strategy for the sustainable development of LDCs for the next decade with a strong focus on developing their productive capacities. The Programme recognized that the scale and impact of natural disasters has increased over recent decades, threatening hard-won development gains of LDCs. It encourages LCDs to take action in implementing and integrating disaster risk reduction in their national and long-term planning and policies. 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - Rio+20 The outcome Document - The Future We Want – of the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20 (), or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable development aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals ...
– Rio 20+ held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 20–22 June 2012 contains a section (Chapter V-A) on disaster risk reduction that sets a firm foundation for discussions on a post-2015 framework to continue guiding nations after the Hyogo Framework expires in 2015. 2014 Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States and the SIDS ACCELERATED MODALITIES OF ACTION (S.A.M.O.A.) Pathway The S.A.M.O.A. Pathway recognize that Small Island Developing States continue to grapple with the effects of disasters, some of which have increased in intensity and some of which have been exacerbated by climate change, which impede their progress towards sustainable development. It recognize that disasters can disproportionately affect small island developing States and that there is a critical need to build resilience, strengthen monitoring and prevention, reduce vulnerability, raise awareness and increase preparedness to respond to and recover from disasters. 2015 Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 The Third United Nations
World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction is a series of United Nations conferences focusing on disaster and climate risk management in the context of sustainable development. The World Conference has been convened three times, with each edit ...
was held in Sendai, Japan from 14 to 18 March 2015, drawing 6,500 delegates to the conference itself and 50,000 people to the associated Public Forum. The Conference adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) as the first major agreement of the
Post-2015 Development Agenda The Post-2015 Development Agenda was a process from 2012 to 2015 led by the United Nations to define the future global development framework that would succeed the Millennium Development Goals. The new framework, starting from 2016 is called Sustai ...
, with seven global targets and four priorities for action. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. The HFA was conceived to give further impetus to the global work under the International Framework for Action for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction of 1989, and the Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action, adopted in 1994 and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of 1999.Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030
UNISDR, Retrieved 14 August 2015
It is a 15-year non-binding agreement which recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders. It aims for the following outcome: "The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries." 2017 Fifth session of the Global Platform on Disaster Reduction The 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, held in Cancun, Mexico on 22-26 May drew in more than 5000 participants, among which were policy makers and disaster risk managers. Thousands of governments, international organizations and civil society representatives were in attendance. It was the first time the forum was organized outside
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
and the global progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction adopted in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 2015 was reviewed. During the forum, Nigerian climate change activist,
Olumide Idowu Olumide Idowu (also known as Mr. Climate), is a Nigerian youth campaigner and climate change activist. He is the co-founder of the International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI Africa), Climate Wednesday and Nigerian Youth Climate C ...
, who was a member of the organizing committee and represented youth and children, was assigned to lead the social media team.


Mandate

UNDRR’s mandate has been defined by a number of United Nations General Assembly Resolutions, the most notable of which is “to serve as the focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations system and regional organizations and activities in socio-economic and humanitarian fields”. Its core areas of work includes ensuring DRR is applied to climate change adaptation, increasing investments for DRR, building disaster-resilient cities, schools and hospitals, and strengthening the international system for DRR.


Management

UNDRR is led by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. Mami Mizutori took up office in this role on 1 March 2018, succeeding
Robert Glasser Robert Glasser is the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster ReductionUNISDR. Australian national Glasser was nominated in November ...
of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Prior to this, the organization was led by
Margareta Wahlström Margareta Wahlström (born 30 March 1950) is a Swedish diplomat and social scientist who has held leading positions in the Red Cross and the United Nations. Specializing in disaster relief, from 2008 to 2015 she served as UN Assistant Secretary-Ge ...
of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, who was the first Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and had been appointed in November 2008. Robert Glasser took up his post in January 2016. From 1999 to 2008, UNDRR had been led by a UN Director-level official, under the auspices of the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is a United Nations (UN) body established in December 1991 by the General Assembly to strengthen the international response to complex emergencies and natural disaster ...
. The functions of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction include leading and overseeing UNDRR in the executions of its functions entrusted by the
United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
,
United Nations Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...
and the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and its successor the Sendai Framework, as well as policy directions by the Secretary-General, overseeing the management of the Trust Fund for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and carrying out high-level advocacy and resource mobilization activities for risk reduction and implementation. The Special Representative also ensures the strategic and operational coherence between disaster-reduction and humanitarian disaster preparedness and response activities, as well as socio-economic activities of the UN system and regional organizations.


Risk Knowledge


Global Assessment Report

The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is the United Nation’s biennial global review and analysis of the natural hazards that are affecting humanity. The GAR monitors risk patterns and trends and progress in disaster risk reduction while providing strategic policy guidance to countries and the international community. The Report is produced in collaboration and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, including various UN agencies, governments, academic and research institutions, donors and technical organizations and specialists. The Global Assessment Report 2015 is titled ‘Making Development Sustainable: The Future of Disaster Risk Management’ and reviews the disaster risk governance under the HFA and assess to what extent the expected outcome of the HFA has been achieved. The report can be accessed her
Global Assessment Report 2015


PreventionWeb

Launched in 2007
PreventionWeb
provides a common platform for institutions to connect, exchange experiences and share information about DRR. Readers can submit content to PreventionWeb, as well as syndicate PreventionWeb content to their own websites. The website is updated daily and contains DRR news, events, online discussions, contact directories, policy documents, reference documents, training and academic programmes, jobs, terminology, and country information, as well as audio and video content.


Initiatives


Making Cities Resilient

Th
Making Cities Resilient: 'My City is getting ready!' campaign
launched in May 2010 initially for five years, addresses issues of local governance and urban risk while drawing upon previous UNDRR Campaigns on safer schools and hospitals, as well as on the sustainable urbanizations principles developed in the
UN-Habitat The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1977 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlem ...
World Urban Campaign 2009-2013. As of August 2015, over 2,600 municipalities and local governments participate in “The Making Cities Resilient: 'My City is getting ready!'” campaign. Ten Essentials The Making Cities Resilience campaign offers a Ten-point checklist to serve as a guide for local level action: *Essential 1: Put in place organization and coordination to understand and reduce disaster risk, based on participation of citizen groups and civil society. Build local alliances. Ensure that all departments understand their role to disaster risk reduction and preparedness. *Essential 2: Assign a budget for disaster risk reduction and provide incentives for homeowners, low-income families, communities, businesses and public sector to invest in reducing the risks they face. *Essential 3: Maintain up-to-date data on hazards and vulnerabilities, prepare risk assessments and use these as the basis for urban development plans and decisions. Ensure that this information and the plans for your city's resilience are readily available to the public and fully discussed with them. *Essential 4: Invest in and maintain critical infrastructure that reduces risk, such as flood drainage, adjusted where needed to cope with climate change. *Essential 5: Assess the safety of all schools and health facilities and upgrade these as necessary. *Essential 6: Apply and enforce realistic, risk compliant building regulations and land use planning principles. Identify safe land for low-income citizens and develop upgrading of informal settlements, wherever feasible. *Essential 7: Ensure education programmes and training on disaster risk reduction are in place in schools and local communities. *Essential 8: Protect ecosystems and natural buffers to mitigate floods, storm surges and other hazards to which your city may be vulnerable. Adapt to climate change by building on good risk reduction practices. *Essential 9: Install early warning systems and emergency management capacities in your city and hold regular public preparedness drills. *Essential 10: After any disaster, ensure that the needs of the survivors are placed at the centre of reconstruction with support for them and their community organizations to design and help implement responses, including rebuilding homes and livelihoods. Role Model Cities “Role Model Cities” are cities, municipalities or local governments that are participating in the Campaign and have demonstrated good practices and innovation in DRR and resilience. Role Model Cities demonstrate achievements in at least five areas out of the 10 Essentials in the “Ten-point checklist of Essentials for Making Cities Resilient”. The nominated cities or local governments must show innovation, sustained results in measuring and reducing disaster risk, their aims to continue to do so as well as must be interested to showcase and share experiences. They implemented innovative, creative, inclusive and efficient measures and action plans to realize strong political will in the field of DRR at local level. They inspire, share experience, create learning opportunities and provide support to other cities to boost their efforts towards committed resilient cities and communities.
Sign up for “Role Model Cities”


International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction

The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR) started in 1989 with the approval by the United Nations General Assembly. The UN General Assembly sees the IDDRR as a way to promote a global culture of disaster reduction, including disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness. It encourages every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations. Originally celebrated on the second Wednesday of October, the UN General Assembly decided to designate October 13 as the date to celebrate the IDDRR. The Step Up initiative started in 2011 and has focused on a different group of partners every year leading up to the Third United Nations World Conference for Disaster Reduction in 2015 - children and young People (2011), women and girls (2012), people living with disabilities (2013), the ageing population (2014), and traditional, indigenous and local knowledge (2015). In 2016 the
Sendai Seven Campaign
was launched to encourage implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction through IDDRR advocacy campaigns focused on each of the seven SFDRR targets. The Sendai Seven Campaigns have focused on reducing mortality from natural and man-made hazards (2016
"Live to Tell"
, reducing the number of people affected by disasters (2017
"Home Safe Home"
, reducing economic losses due to disasters (2018), and reducing disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services (2019
"Build to Last"
.


UN Sasakawa Award

The United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction is awarded to an individual or institutions that have taken active efforts in reducing disaster risk in their communities and advocates for disaster risk reduction. Together with the World Health Organization Sasakawa Health Prize and the UN Environment Programme Sasakawa Environment Prize, the United Nations Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction is one of three prestigious prizes established in 1986 by founding Chairman of the Nippon Foundation, Mr. Ryoichi Sasakawa. Past winners


ARISE

The UNDRR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies, known for short as ARISE, builds on and integrates the work of the UNDRR Private Sector Partnership and the R!SE Initiative to support the implementation of the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) is an international document that was adopted by the United Nations (UN) member states between 14 and 18 March 2015 at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Ja ...
. The overall goal of ARISE, which was launched in November 2015, is to create risk-resilient societies by energizing the private sector in collaboration with the public sector and other stakeholders to deliver on the targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. ARISE will expand the number of private sector organizations and others involved in supporting the implementation and allow the private sector to implement tangible projects and initiatives that deliver results critical to the achievement of the outcomes and goals of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. ARISE facilitates exchange of experience and knowledge on how to implement tangible disaster risk reduction projects through seven work-streams: Disaster Risk Management strategies, investment metrics, benchmarking and standards, education and training, legal and regulatory, urban risk reduction & resilience, and insurance.


See also

*
Disaster Risk Reduction Disaster risk reduction (DRR) sometimes called disaster risk management (DRM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of disaster. It aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerabilities to disaster as well as dealing w ...
*
Climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...
*
Emergency Management Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actuall ...
*
Natural Disasters A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econo ...
*
Vulnerability Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...
*
Business continuity planning Business continuity may be defined as "the capability of an organization to continue the delivery of products or services at pre-defined acceptable levels following a disruptive incident", and business continuity planning (or business continuity a ...
*
Climate Change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
* Risk Management


References


External links


Official websiteThird World conference for disaster risk reductionSendai Framework 2015-2030 for Disaster Risk ReductionPreventionWeb

Global Assessment Report

Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction Official UNDRR Stop Disasters educational game
Initiatives
Making Cities ResilientInternational Day for Disaster reduction

UN Sasakawa Award for Disaster Reduction

R!SE
{{authority control Disaster preparedness United Nations Secretariat United Nations Development Group