Post-2015 push for disaster risk reduction intensifies

Disaster risk reduction is set to take center stage in the post-2015 agenda debate, as its advocates hatch up recommendations for its mainstreaming.

A document, exclusively obtained by Devex, has encapsulated the outcome of the recent meeting in Jakarta on the integration of disaster risk management in the post-2015 global development agenda. Giving the meeting added merit is the presence of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who co-chairs a high-level U.N. panel tasked with drafting the agenda that will succeed the Millennium Development Goals, where he led more than 50 other participants.

On hindsight, the participants underscored the value of creating a stand-alone goal in the post-2015 agenda for disaster risk reduction, since the post-2015 agenda on its own may not cover all the purposes of DRR. Also, DRR should be mainstreamed into other development goals, for the participants believe that DRR is imperative in the success of the future global development agenda.

Listed below are the recommended options for integrating DRR in the post-2015 agenda:

• Set a stand-alone goal on DRR, using resilience as a framework.
• Mainstream DRR into other sector goals, particularly poverty reduction, health, environment, governance, food security, gender equality, education and water.
• Foster a new development approach that integrates DRR into all development interventions, for example, making disaster risk assessment mandatory at the outset of any development project and using existing assessment tools, like the environmental impact assessment.
• Create input, outcome and impact targets and indicators that capture reductions in direct losses, such as mortality and economic impact, as well as indirect losses, like the loss of social capital and ecosystems. Targets and indicators should be applicable at regional, national and subnational levels.

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