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have been able to employ land-use planning and management and influence investment policies to encourage effective disaster risk management ( GAR 13 paper

Johnson, 2011

Johnson, C. 2011.,Creating an enabling environment for reducing disaster risk: Recent experience of regulatory frameworks for land, planning and building in low and middle-income countries., Background Paper prepared for the 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction., Geneva,Switzerland: UNISDR..
Click here to view this GAR paper.

; UNISDR, 2011

UNISDR. 2011.,Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Revealing Risk, Redefining Development., United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction., Geneva,Switzerland: UNISDR.. .

). Instead, different public and private institutions transform the landscape of city regions; they push different agendas and operate outside of an overall coherent risk management framework.

In Costa Rica, for example, for more than 44 years, successive governments have not been able to finalise and implement the National Land-Use Plan ( GAR 13 paper

Brenes and Bonilla, 2012

Brenes, A. and Bonilla A. 2012.,Estudio de caso Costa Rica. El Fenómeno La Niña 2010-2012., Background Paper prepared for the 2013 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction., Geneva,Switzerland: UNISDR..
Click here to view this GAR paper.

). The Controller’s office considers that the absence of this Plan contributes to development that is characterised by high social costs, deficient infrastructure and urban development in ecologically fragile and hazardexposed areas. Unregulated urban development has increased flood risk in many areas and has been identified by the National Emergency Commission as a principal cause of the severe losses registered during the 2010–2011 ENSO episode in Costa Rica.

A number of nascent shifts in approach, however, are emerging from several countries that contribute to a move towards prospective disaster risk management—in the areas of legalisation, institutional arrangements and strategic programming.

For example, Colombia passed a new disaster risk management framework, including establishment of a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder national committee that will be in charge of both prospective and corrective risk management. Peru has moved responsibility for disaster risk management to a new agency located in the Ministry of the Presidency. Also, about 25 percent of countries that assessed their progress against the HFA in 2011–2013 reported that responsibility for oversight of disaster risk management was located in the highest office, i.e. of the Prime Minister or President. Another 13 percent reported that these functions reside in a central planning or coordination unit.

The 2011–2013 HFA review also highlights new policies, strategies and laws for disaster risk management; many provide for sharper focus on both prospective and corrective risk management and an integration of disaster risk management with climate change adaptation.

Ethiopia, for example, adopted policies for integrated environmental management and rural development, which include disaster risk reduction elements. One such policy, the five-year Growth and Transformation Plan, has integral elements on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation; the forthcoming DRM Strategic Programme and Investment Framework also integrates disaster risk reduction with climate change adaptation.

Namibia in 2012 passed a new Disaster Risk Management Act establishing a new National Disaster Fund that supports not only relief and recovery but also disaster risk management (Government of Namibia, 2012

Government of Namibia. 2012.,Disaster Risk Management Act., Government Gazette of the Republic of Namibia. No. 5029. , September 2012., Windhoek,Namibia. .

The United States of America recognizes that disaster resilience is an important aspect of overall economic health of the nation and sustainability of communities (National Academies, 2012

National Academies. 2012.,Disaster Resilience. A national imperative, Summary Report., The National Academies Press., Washington,USA.. .

). Community resilience indicators are being explored to help drive more effective integration of disaster risk considerations into sustainable development policies, planning and programming (CSRI, 2011).

In Vanuatu, the National Disaster Risk Management Office (NDMO) has been strengthened and new arrangements finalised for integrating governance of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation efforts. In addition, a new National Advisory Board for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation will soon be approved.