The Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction 2015-2030. Progress achieved in its implementation

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) will be in charge of facilitating the implementation, monitoring and revision of the Sendai Framework. To this end it will be able to count on the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which will meet regularly (every two years) pursuant to the commitment to biennial revisions that is laid down in the framework’s agenda. The first meeting of this global platform actually took place this year 2017.

It should be pointed out that the 2017 Global Platform meeting held from 24 to 26 May in Cancún, (Mexico) marked a milestone, because it was both the first opportunity that the international community has had to follow up the progress made in applying the Sendai Framework and also the first time that this biennial international forum on disaster risk reduction has been held outside the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.

The 2017 Global Platform has enabled identification of both the achievements in these first two years of application of the framework and the major issues that need to be addressed to achieve Sendai’s goals, as will be outlined below.

Since the 70s the United Nations has been taking different measures in response to a diverse range of severe disasters which have claimed the lives of thousands of people, such as the earthquakes in Iran in 1962 and 1968, and hurricane Flora in October 1963, which devastated  Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad & Tobago, among others.

Witnessing the high level of recurrence of disasters and the serious damage they inflicted on the development of nations, especially among the least developed countries, led the United Nations to consider the need to take kinds of action that would go beyond a merely reactive response and which, from a more integrated perspective, might encompass studying, preventing, planning and preparing for disaster situations as the most suitable way to mitigate the effects that disasters were bringing about.

The development of these new approaches gradually took shape and became established over the 70s and 80s. Over these years the UN General Assembly passed several resolutions (1) which contained measures to promote the study, prevention and mitigation of natural disasters. Then, at the end of the 80s, the General Assembly decided to call the 90s the “International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)” (2), with the aim of getting the international community, under the auspices of the United Nations, to focus special attention on fomenting international cooperation in the area of natural disaster reduction.

• Risk assessment.
• Integration of disaster prevention and preparation for disaster events into development policy and planning at national, regional, bilateral, multilateral and international levels.
• Development and strengthening of capacity to prevent and reduce disasters and to mitigate their effects on a national, regional and international level.
• Early warning of disasters and effective dissemination of information.

In late 2001, with the intention of examining implementation of the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action in the context of the framework for action for implementing the ISDR, the UN General Assembly gave its approval to convening the 2nd World conference on Disaster Reduction (6), which was held from 18 to 22 January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, (Japan) and was attended by some 168 UN Member States.

With consensus from all of the 168 participating countries, approval was given at the conference for the “Hyogo Framework for Action (2005–2015): Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters (7)”, as the successor to the Yokohama Framework for Action. 

The framework established as its intended general objective for 2015 “The substantial reduction of disaster losses, in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries”.

To achieve this outcome the framework set three strategic goals that should guide the actions to be undertaken:

• The more effective integration of disaster risk considerations into sustainable development policies, planning and programming at all levels, with a special emphasis on disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness and vulnerability reduction.
• The development and strengthening of institutions, mechanisms and capacities at all levels, in particular at the community level, with potential to systematically contribute to building resilience to hazards.
• The systematic incorporation of risk reduction approaches into the design and implementation of emergency preparedness, response and recovery programmes in the reconstruction of affected communities.

Yet the most notable aspect of the Hyogo Framework for Action, which was backed by a broad consensus when it was approved, is to work from the assumption that states are responsible for its implementation, without devaluing the need for cooperation from regional and international institutions at all to put it into practice and, based on this, it established a set of functions and duties at national, regional and international levels.

Particularly relevant among the duties laid down within the Hyogo Framework for Action are those related to the need to designate bodies to both implement the framework and to develop procedures for follow-up and progress assessment in this process.

In this regard the framework establishes the following tasks:

For states:

• To designate suitable national coordination mechanisms for the implementation and follow-up of the Framework for Action and report information to the ISDR secretariat.
• To make national assessments of the status regarding disaster risk reduction (DRR) and share this information with the relevant regional and international bodies.
• To perform periodic examination of the progress made nationally in implementing the Framework for Action and send a situation report to existing international frameworks for this purpose.

For regional organisations and institutions:

• To set up specialised regional collaborative centres or strengthen those already in existence to undertake research, training, education and capacity building in the field of disaster risk reduction.
• To coordinate and publish periodic reviews on progress in the region and on impediments and support needs, and assist countries as requested in the preparation of periodic national summaries of their programmes and progress in implementing the framework.

For international organisations:

• To develop standards, keep databases and devise indicators and indices, among other actions, to support states in preparing national assessments and situation reports in relation to implementation of the framework.

To address these demands the UN General Assembly approved the creation of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, which would act as a world forum for coordinating and reviewing progress in implementing the framework. Setting up and managing the global platform was entrusted to the UNISDR Secretariat, which drew up the procedures for it to come into operation, which it did in 2006.

On the other hand, with the goal of providing support for countries in making follow-up (monitoring) reports and establishing national coordination mechanisms for implementing and monitoring the framework, the UNISDR secretariat drafted its “Guidelines for Reporting on Progress on the Implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action” and “Guidelines: National Platforms for Disaster risk Reduction”.

The establishment of the global platform in 2006 represented a cornerstone of the UN system for disaster reduction. The first meeting of the global platform took place from 5 to 7 June 2007 in Geneva and since then it has consistently met on a biennial basis to examine progress in implementing the international instruments used in disaster risk reduction. It is currently the leading world forum for strategic advice, coordination and review with respect to concerted international frameworks for disaster reduction.

When the period during which the Hyogo Framework for Action was in effect came to an end, the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction took place in the Japanese city of Sendai from 14 to 18 March 2015 in order to establish a new framework for action to reaffirm the international community’s commitment to combating disasters. The result was the approval of the “Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” (8).

The Sendai Framework is thus the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for Action and is structured taking into account the experience acquired during implementation of the latter. It is based on recognition of the success achieved by its predecessor and assumes the challenges for after 2015 which need addressing as a priority towards obtaining significant disaster reduction by 2030. To do this it is necessary to shift the conceptual focus from disaster management to disaster risk management.

It represents a 15-year plan of action that defines seven global targets and four priority areas for action (see table 1), aimed at enhancing the capacity of communities to face up to and manage the risks around them so they can build up their resilience and consequently reduce damage in relation to the threats to which they are exposed. 

To this end the Sendai Framework lays emphasis on the need to develop quantitative ongoing assessment of the damage caused by disasters in terms of losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. 

In response to the Sendai Framework mandate and with the aim of facilitating disaster damage assessment for states, the UN General Assembly set up an open-ended intergovernmental working group of experts on indicators and terminology relating to disaster risk reduction (9). After completing its assignment the working group issued a report with recommendations on global indicators associated with the global goals in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which was adopted by the General Assembly via Resolution 71/644 of 1 December 2016.

Table 1: Summary of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

• A need to monitor implementation of the Sendai Framework. The special representative of the General Secretary for Disaster Risk Reduction said that the first cycle of monitoring progress in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction will commence in early 2018. This first cycle will cover the 2015 to 2016 and 2017 to 2018 periods. This will end in March 2019, for which reason he reiterated the duty on the part of states to make an assessment of disaster damage and send in the relevant reports to the UNISDIR for global monitoring.
• A need to substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.
• A requirement for the Sendai Framework to be consistent with the agendas for sustainable development and climate change. 
• A need to establish new alliances for developing and using tools and methodologies aimed at including and applying investment in disaster risk reduction.

• The Cancún High-Level Communiqué ensuring the resilience of infrastructure and housing.
• The Chair’s Summary. 

Spain has participated in the UN’s disaster risk reduction strategies by developing programmes in keeping with the guiding principles in the various frameworks for action which have been adopted over the past 25 years.

For the purpose of coordinating such actions the National Commission for Civil Protection was assigned the role of Spanish Committee for International Strategy for Disaster Reduction under the secretariat of the Directorate General for Civil Protection and Emergencies. To provide support for the National Commission in this role a Technical Committee was set up to advise on drawing up disaster risk reduction programmes in keeping with international agreements up to 2015.

Now, however, following the passing of Law 17/2015 on the National Civil Protection System, the National Commission for Civil Protection has ceased in its duties, being replaced by the National Civil Protection Council, which has been established as the high-level coordinating body for the Spanish civil protection system.

This fact, along with the approval for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which defines a new Plan of Action for 2015-2030, requires that the bodies that are to take on the responsibility for implementing the Framework be redefined within the context of the current way in which the Spanish civil protection system is organised, as well as getting those mechanisms underway which enable achievement of Sendai’s goals and targets.