International Day for Disaster Reduction 2015: Knowledge for Life

The International Day for Disaster Reduction is a day to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of disaster risk reduction.

The focus for 2015 is on the traditional, indigenous and local knowledge which complement modern science and add to an individual’s and societies’ resilience. For example, knowledge of early warning signals in nature can be vital to ensuring early action is taken to mitigate the impact of both slow and fast onset disasters such as droughts, heatwaves, storms and floods. Combined with scientific knowledge such as reports generated by meteorologists, local knowledge is vital for preparedness and can be passed on from generation to generation. New knowledge and coping strategies are being generated all the time as communities in hazard prone locations work out new ways and means to adapt to disaster and climate risk.

In many aspects, indigenous people epitomise the importance of local knowledge and community-level engagement in disaster risk reduction. 370 million people around the world identify themselves as indigenous, in 90 countries. Indigenous peoples’ territories span over 24% of the earth’s surface and they manage 80% of the world’s biodiversity. More than 4,000 of the world’s 7,000 languages are spoken by indigenous people. Many traditions, practices and customs which are important to environmental protection and managing disaster risk are embedded in those languages which are threatened with extinction. In both rural and urban settings, indigenous peoples have unique vulnerabilities and needs in disaster risk reduction and in post-disaster recovery. At the same time, indigenous peoples have unique capacities and knowledge.

Over the last four years, the UNISDR Step Up Campaign has focused on the challenge of including major communities in disaster risk management, communities that have built up stores of knowledge on vulnerability and exposure to disasters from their own unique perspectives: Children (2011), Women and Girls (2012), Persons Living with Disabilities (2013) and Older Persons (2014). All these groups have a communal experience and wisdom which can strengthen preparedness and response for society as a whole. This year’s International Day concludes the series with a searching look at how knowledge held by communities united by the common threat of disasters, deploy the knowledge and insight born of place, tradition and experience, and with highlighting approaches for engaging local communities and indigenous peoples in implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

People can also get involved by promoting the International Day for Disaster Reduction 2015 through our Thunderclap page.