Delegates from around the world will meet at the UN in Geneva in November to finalize preparations for the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction which will be adopted at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan in March 2015.
Road to Paris Editor-in-Chief Denise Young interviewed Margareta Wahlström, the Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, on how our understanding of disaster has evolved since the last framework was adopted in 2005, and what the new framework will look like.
In 2015 the world will get a new framework for action on disaster risk reduction, replacing the first Hyogo Framework which was adopted in 2005. In the last decade, we’ve gone from viewing disasters as events to be paid for , to long processes which require a much better understanding of risk. How will the new framework reflect this mind set shift, and translate that shift into recommendations for concrete action?
One of the key achievements of the HFA is to have generated a much better understanding of risk and this understanding will be the foundation on which we will agree the new post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction. That new understanding is clearly reflected in the action priorities of the draft framework or HFA2. They are: understanding risk; risk governance; investment in social, economic, cultural ,environmental resilience; and, enhancing disaster preparedness, recovery and reconstruction. These priorities – which were developed in consultation with communities and countries over the past three years – will drive action on managing and mitigating risk, as well as building and investing for resilience.
Read more: Q&A with Margareta Wahlström on the importance of building resilience
Note: Road to Paris is where science, policy and economics meet on our way to the 2015 climate conference in Paris.
The International Council for Science, sponsor of Road to Paris, is an organizing partner of the UN Science and Technology Major Group for the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.
