UNISDR assesses progress on Sendai Framework

GENEVA, 11 June 2018 The Annual Report of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNISDR, highlights significant progress in the training of member states in monitoring implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the global plan for reducing disaster losses.

The report notes that, following adoption of 38 indicators in 2017 for measuring progress against the Sendai Frameworks seven targets, UNISDR worked to develop an online monitoring system, which was piloted during the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Cancn, Mexico, in May 2017.

UNISDR formally launched the Sendai Framework Monitor on 1 March 2018. The monitoring system is gathering data to enhance understanding of disaster risk; better enable UN Member States to report on progress in achieving the Sendai Frameworks targets; and enable reporting on common indicators for the SDGs, particularly SDGs 1, eradicating poverty, SDG11, resilient cities, and SDG13, climate action.

 The Annual Report shows that 109 Member States had been trained in the use of the Sendai Framework Monitor by the end of 2017 and this work is continuing.

The year 2017 was full of reminders why the work of disaster risk reduction is so important, said Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, in the foreword, citing a record Atlantic hurricane season in the Caribbean and devastating disasters in Africa and Asia.

Ms. Mizutori also flagged the impacts of smaller, less visible events that happen regularly and often go unreported. While losses on this scale are very visible, the accumulation of impacts from recurring, small-scale disaster events that do not grab the headlines can be equally corrosive of a communitys resilience to disasters, she said.

2017 was one of the costliest years for disaster losses ever, heightened by the risk drivers of climate change, poorly planned urbanisation in hazard-prone areas, environmental degradation and rising inequality.

In response to these threats, UNISDR provides key actors and stakeholders at all levels and sectors with the tools, information, platforms, technical expertise and incentives, to translate the Sendai Framework into concrete actions.

In addition to receiving training, 99 countries are now using the UNISDR disaster loss database system, Sendai Desinventar, to improve the collection of data on mortality, numbers of people affected, economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure. In terms of advocacy, networking and best-practice sharing, 3,858 cities are now part of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign, a global campaign which promotes a local level understanding of and preparation for disaster risk.

UNISDR has trained 2,387 officials - 40 per cent of whom were women - from national and local governments from 81 countries in implementation of the Sendai Framework with a particular focus on target (e) which seeks a substantial increase in the number of countries with national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction by 2020.

The importance of this work was underlined in a message from Ms. Mizutori, Not all countries have the necessary capacity to fulfill their responsibilities under the Sendai Framework in accessing, compiling and reporting back on the data necessary to measure our achievement.

The need to boost capacity development in many countries is crucial, and this will remain an important focus of our activities.