Disaster risk management in the post-2015 international policy landscape

The workshop is designed to bring together different stakeholders – from development and humanitarian agencies, government departments, research organisations and from the private sector bodies and foundations – to discuss the opportunities, structures and strategies for effectively managing disaster risk in the post-2015 international policy landscape.

Economic losses from disasters are rising and are projected to get worse. Investment in measures to reduce risk is still less than 1% of the money spent on post-disaster relief yet disaster risk management, as a policy issue, has never had a higher profile.

It is on the agenda at Rio+20 and the G-20, was a theme of the Summit of the Americas and has just been the subject of an IPCC Special Report. The UN Secretary General has asked the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction to lead a process to agree a successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action by 2015. Agreement on what succeeds the Millennium Development Goals and an agreement on tackling climate change are also due for 2015. Each of these processes provides an opportunity to further amplify the importance of effectively managing disaster risk, but achieving the best possible outcomes will require careful negotiation of a set of risks and opportunities.

This workshop is an early opportunity for stakeholders to come together to discuss these issues and it will provide a chance to improve co-operation in efforts to create a post-2015 policy environment that helps to minimize disaster losses.