Environmental Mandate |
The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (Hyogo Framework), adopted at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Hyogo-Kobe, January 2005, identifies environmental management, along with effective urban planning, as a priority action for reducing underlying risk factors to natural hazards. Attention to environmental dimensions of risk has begun to grow in the framework of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). In order to address this gap, the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction (IATF/DR) at its Eleventh session established an ad hoc working group on Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction.
The working group, chaired by UNEP, with the support of the ISDR secretariat held its first meeting in Nairobi, 27-28 October 2005 and agreed to develop recommendations to ensure that environmental management concerns and capacities are reflected in the implementation of the Hyogo Framework. The recommendations will be presented at the first meeting of the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction, tentatively scheduled for October 2006. |
Environmental Activities |
ISDR secretariat activities related to the environment:
- Promote multi-disciplinary institutional mechanisms in countries to support effective disaster risk reduction implementation, involving environmental ministries
- Promote disaster risk reduction, as an integral part of sustainable development policies and practices, in relevant sectoral development agendas
- Develop education material on environment and disaster risk reduction
- Support capacity building efforts, related to sound environmental practices that reduce disaster risk (currently focussing on countries affected by the 26 December tsunami)
- Compile information on ‘good practices’ for environmental management that integrate disaster risk.
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