Photo: Kate Holt / IRIN
The sixth Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) was convened in Geneva, Switzerland, 13-17 May 2019, on the theme of “Resilience Dividend: Towards Sustainable and Inclusive Societies.” It called for accelerated action in achieving the seven targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) – especially Target E to increase the number of countries with national and local DRR strategies by 2020. The conference highlighted the importance of DRR to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the contribution of the Sendai Framework towards the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Agenda for Humanity, the New Urban Agenda, and the SAMOA Pathway. Outcomes of the GPDRR will feed into discussions at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July and the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit in September in New York.
GPDRR urged to recognize the interplay between disasters, climate change, environmental degradation, conflicts and fragility, and security implications. Some very significant reports and guidelines were launched during the GPDRR, reflecting on the rapidly changing risk landscape with an array of both familiar and unfamiliar disaster risks negatively impacting the achievement of sustainable development. The reports are listed below in the recommended resources.
Environment, climate change, and ecosystem-based approaches for DRM were central to the GPDRR deliberations, which included in-depth discussions on best practices, challenges, and possible solutions for coordinated climate change and DRR programming to strengthen resilience at the national and local levels including in fragile and conflict areas. The GPDRR took stock of the implementation of the Sendai Framework, based on the data submitted by the member States to the Sendai Framework Monitor, analysis from the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) 2019, recent reports such as the Global Warming of 1.5°C report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The IPBES report finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction due to human activities, many within decades, more than ever before in human history.
The details of the sessions and the key documents for the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction 2019 are available on the event website.
The most significant reports and briefing papers featured at the GPDRR include:
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