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New framework passed after fierce negotiations
After long negotiations, delegations representing 187 countries at the third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) agreed on Wednesday evening to launch the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 as new international guidelines to manage and anticipate disaster risk
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After long negotiations, delegations representing 187 countries at the third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) agreed on Wednesday evening to launch the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 as new international guidelines to manage and anticipate disaster risk.
Initially scheduled to be announced during the closing ceremony of the five-day conference on Wednesday afternoon, the final draft of the Sendai Framework could not be completed until one hour before midnight on Wednesday, with some countries disagreeing on a number of issues, including common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) and international cooperation.
The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), the organizer of the conference, canceled the closing ceremony to allow the conference's main committee to finalize the draft and proceed to the plenary meeting.
The new framework, which replaces the 10-year-old Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), outlines seven global targets to be achieved over the next 15 years, including the reduction of global disaster mortality and post-disaster economic losses in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP).
The 25-page document also sets four priorities for action focused on developing better understanding of risk, strengthening disaster risk governance, attracting more investment to improve disaster resilience, enhancing effective disaster preparedness and embedding the 'build back better' principle into post-disaster recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
'These will be the four points of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) compass for the next 15 years,' Ambassador Päivi Kairamo of Finland to the United Nations, who cochaired the conference's main committee, said in a press release distributed early on Thursday.
Commenting on the successful adoption of the Sendai Framework, UNISDR chief Margareta Wahlström said the framework would open a major new chapter in sustainable development.
'It [the Sendai Framework] outlines clear targets and priorities for action that will lead to a substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health,' she said.
Lead Indonesian negotiator Roy Rolliansyah Soemirat told The Jakarta Post that the conference's main committee, as of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, had been unable to agree on 13 paragraphs in the Sendai Framework draft, bringing the conference's agenda to the precipice of failure.
'According to the rules, all parts of the [framework] draft must be approved by all delegations. Disagreement over a single word will put the issuance of the new framework on hold,' he said.
Held in the northern Japanese city of Sendai, which was hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011, the international conference gathered over 6,500 participants, including 2,800 government representatives from 187 nations.
The UN estimates that the economic losses from disasters now reach an average of US$250 billion to $300 billion annually, making it important for the international community to collectively outline a global strategy to better manage and anticipate the impacts of future disasters.
Data from the UNISDR show that China suffered the most disasters, 286, over the past decade, followed by the US with 212 disasters, the Philippines with 181 and India with 167.
Indonesia, meanwhile, stood in fifth place with 141 disasters, including the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Aceh and claimed over 200,000 lives.
