GAR 2013 Main Report

with disasters and climate change.

More important, if business investment becomes more risk-sensitive, governments will be encouraged to invest more heavily in disaster risk reduction.　Effective disaster risk management will become a basic requirement for competitive countries and cities that are successful in attracting business investment.

A growing convergence of public and private initiatives to model and estimate disaster risks is beginning to underpin these efforts. Disaster risk management platforms and applications are now being developed to allow businesses to incorporate these data into their investment decisions. Accurate risk data, in turn, facilitate the development of insurance markets, with appropriate pricing that encourages risk-sensitive investment.

But above all, businesses now begin to perceive investments in disaster risk management as a compelling proposition to create shared value. Investments in climate change mitigation, sustainable water management and green cities directly address underlying risk drivers and at the same time become increasingly important in value creation for businesses of all types.

Businesses are finding huge opportunities in disaster proofing new and existing infrastructure, buildings and supply chains, which are also critical to risk reduction and global sustainability. Investing to reduce the vulnerability and strengthen the resilience of smaller businesses that are suppliers and partners of larger businesses not only strengthens the latter’s business sustainability but also generates shared value in securing local employment, increased productivity, tax revenue and welfare.

Disaster risk reduction, therefore, is a compelling shared value proposition for business. This component needs to be recognised in the formulation of the revised international frameworks for development and disaster risk reduction that will be adopted in 2015, ⁱⁱⁱ as well as

for future international negotiations around the challenge of climate change, if the world is to achieve a socially inclusive, low-carbon and resilient economy laid out by the Secretary-General of the United Nations (United Nations Secretary-General, 2012).

A new and advanced GAR13

The previous two editions of the Global Assessment Report were predominantly written for an audience of policy and decision-makers in government departments. GAR09 laid out key recommendations for governments as well as civil society actors engaged in disaster risk management; GAR11 sought to reach beyond this traditional audience and targeted its analysis and findings particularly at finance and planning ministries of national governments.

In expanding its analysis to include and focus on the role of private investment, GAR13 aims at business leaders and private investors, on the one hand, and at local and national regulators, on the other hand. This report seeks to engage businesses in a dialogue on disaster risk management that goes beyond the current emphasis on response and preparedness and instead identifies opportunities for the creation of shared value for business and society.

As with previous Global Assessment Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction, GAR13 has been developed on the basis of original research commissioned to and contributed by a wide range of partners, including academic, scientific and technical organisations, governments and regional organisations, international and non-governmental bodies and most importantly by the private sector on a global scale. This report offers businesses as well as investors for the first time a review of practices that can reduce their risk of disaster loss.

Key features of GAR13 include:

A global assessment of economic disaster risk

A completely new probabilistic multi-hazard GAR global risk model is being developed in collaboration with scientific and technical partners to replace

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