ADRC First Seminar: Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for a Resilient Society

Background

Cities around the world, often with high population density, require massive new investments for development. Globally, the annual amount of investment until 2030 is estimated at USD6 trillion to meet the societies' infrastructure demands. In Asia, progressing rapid urbanization bring about the half of these investments.

Development, that fails to consider disaster resilience, leads to the accumulation of structural and non-structural vulnerabilities. According to the World Bank, disaster losses are close to USD520 billion per year due to vulnerable infrastructures. On the other hand, the current magnitude of investments provide opportunity for governments and stakeholders to reduce the impacts of future disasters and climate risks by promoting and investing in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for a more resilient society.

Objectives

The discussions of the first seminar focus on "Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for a Resilient Society" to offer insights that contribute to governments and stakeholders' efforts in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, especially Priority Three: Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience.

Specifically, it intends to:

1. Share recent knowledge on risk informed investigations from analytical, programming, and empirical views that member states can further adopt to fundamentally reduce disaster damages and economic losses,
2. Provide an overview of the key components for achieving a resilient society through investing in disaster risk reduction from the following viewpoints:
   • Why do we need to invest in disaster risk reduction?
   • What have we achieved and what remains to be done?
   • What are the crucial points for building a resilient society?

Focus questions

• What are the gaps and challenges of the current developments that hinder DRR, people's well-being, and sustainable economic growth in Asian countries?
• How to assess risks and vulnerabilities by considering social, economic, and cultural backgrounds?
• What strategies can the national and local government further adopt to fundamentally reduce disaster damage and economic loss?
• How to integrate or align disaster mitigation strategy with other plans (e.g., land-use plan, spatial development plan, and master plan for infrastructure) to ensure low-risk spatial development?
• How can state governments effectively implement disaster mitigation, highlighting the role of good governance, sound financing, and institutional cooperation/collaboration?

Time: 18:00-19:30 (JST) GMT+9

Schedule

18:00-18:05 Opening

18:05-18:20 Analytical Perspective: Dr. Jun Rentschler, Senior Economist at the World Bank, Washington, D.C.

18:20-18:35 Programming Perspective: Mr. Ronald Jackson, Head DRR and Recovery, UNDP-Geneva

18:35-18:50 Empirical Perspective: Prof. NISHIKAWA Satoru, Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University

18:50-19:25 Discussions

19:25-19:30 Wrap-up and Closing: Mr. NAKAGAWA Masaaki, Executive Director, Asian Disaster Reduction Center (Moderator)