What is Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction?
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction is an international agreement adopted at the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction on March 18, 2015, in Sendai, Japan.
It focuses on adopting disaster risk measures.
The 3 dimensions of these measures are exposure to hazards, vulnerability & capacity, and the nature of the hazard.
The Sendai Framework aims to significantly reduce disaster risk and losses to people's lives, livelihoods, & health and to the economic, physical, social, cultural, and environmental assets of individuals, enterprises, communities, and nations in the following 15 years.
This framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding agreement with the goal of assisting nations in lowering their disaster risk and increasing their capacity to face disasters.
It includes both natural and man-made hazards and disaster risk reduction into policies and plans for sustainable development.
This framework’s implementation is monitored by Sendai Framework Monitor.
The SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are closely tied with the Sendai Framework.
4 Key Areas of Sendai Framework:
Understanding disaster risk
Strengthening disaster risk governance
Investing in disaster risk reduction
Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and recovery.
Disaster Risk Reduction
India’s initiative in disaster risk reduction
India has established the first G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group.
As human vulnerability to disasters is strongly linked to economic decisions, the G20 is in a unique position to chart a new path of disaster risk-informed decision-making.
This means not only considering the potential impact of economic decisions on disaster risks, but also leveraging economic tools to reduce existing risks and prevent new ones.
This type of foresight is critical if countries wish to protect their people and grow their economies in the face of increasing and inter-connected risks.
These are in direct support of the calls to action of the May 2023 Political Declaration of the UN General Assembly on the midterm review of the Sendai Framework.
Of particular note are those around enhancing early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, and financing for disaster risk reduction.
Early warning systems:
Expanding disaster early warning and early action systems is a top priority.
Inclusive and multi-hazard early warning systems are among the most effective means of reducing disaster deaths and economic losses.
During Cyclone Biparjoy, effective systems for end-to-end early warning and action helped achieve zero deaths from the event in India.
Preparedness of the power sector helped reduce the disruption time in power supply in the aftermath of the cyclone.
The promise of disruptive technologies can help many countries leapfrog into a regime where they can use global capacity for forecasting to meet local needs.
Working to realise the goal of the UN Secretary General’s Early Warnings for All Initiative, which seeks to create universal coverage for everyone by the end of 2027.
Resilience of infrastructure:
Enhancing the resilience of infrastructure to withstand climate and disaster risks is another global priority.
Infrastructure, whether economic or social, is ultimately about people and it must lead to sustainable development outcomes for them.
India launched with the UN in 2019 the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, to spur policy development and capacity support for disaster resilient infrastructure, especially in developing countries.
We are currently collaborating to create a global methodology for conducting infrastructure resilience reviews and stress testing, based on the Principles for Resilient Infrastructure.
Financing disaster risk reduction:
Developing a new approach to financing disaster risk reduction is needed to transform risk reduction plans into concrete actions.
This effort must be led by finance and economy ministries in collaboration with the private sector because of the current funding deficit for disaster risk reduction and many of the risks generated are by the private sector.
G20 nations like Indonesia and India have used risk metrics to allocate resources at the sub-national and local levels for disaster risk reduction. These need to be studied and scaled.
Building on these areas of work, scaling up ecosystem-based approaches and enhancing national and local response capacities will be the responsibility of the next G20 presidents.
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