Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience

Reducing disaster risk is fundamental to protecting development gains and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015, aims to protect peoples’ lives and livelihoods, and to prevent losses resulting from disasters. These objectives are re-affirmed under Goal 11 (sustainable cities and communities) of the SDGs, and are also critical for implementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Responding to the need for a risk-informed and integrated approach to implementing the Sendai Framework and the 2030 Agenda, the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) adopted a revised UN Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience in April 2016. The Plan, developed under the leadership of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) through the High-level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) and approved at its thirty-first session in March 2016, commits the UN system to 1) strengthen system-wide coherence in support of the Sendai Framework and other agreements, through a risk-informed and integrated approach; 2) build UN system capacity to deliver coordinated, high-quality support to countries on disaster risk reduction; and 3) maintain disaster risk reduction as a strategic priority for UN organizations.

In its resolution 71/226, the General Assembly welcomed the revised Plan and encouraged the relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes and other relevant institutions and stakeholders to take it into consideration in the coordination and elucidation of their disaster risk reduction activities.

The revised Plan of Action builds on the original plan adopted by CEB in April 2013, which advanced system-wide action in support of the 2005-2015 Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). Following the adoption of a successor framework to the HFA and the 2030 Agenda, the Plan of Action was revised in response to the shifting focus, wider scope and people-centered approach of those ground-breaking texts.