Sendai - The U.N. World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction ended Thursday, making the first move to set specific goals and a time frame to mitigate the risks and damage of disasters amid the increasing threat posed by climate change.
Under a new 15-year action plan adopted in Sendai, the governments of more than 180 countries agreed on seven global goals aimed at “substantially” reducing global disaster mortality, victims and economic losses in terms of global gross domestic product by 2030.
The countries agreed to reduce disaster damage to critical health and educational facilities. They also vowed to enhance support for disaster-prone developing economies, as well as to increase the number of countries that have disaster risk reduction strategies and early warning systems.
The framework said “particular attention” should be paid to the least-developed countries, small island states and African countries that are especially vulnerable to disasters, calling for the “urgent strengthening of international cooperation.”
Less-developed economies had sought a stronger commitment from the international community on the issue of financial aid, but developed countries were reluctant to mention specific percentages or figures for how much they should increase financial support, negotiation sources said.
Although the governments failed to set any numerical targets, the conference yielded a “great outcome,” according to Kenichi Suganuma, Japan’s ambassador in charge of the meeting.
Margareta Wahlstroem, the U.N. secretary general’s special representative for disaster risk reduction, told a plenary session that it was “the best conference ever,” emphasizing that the inclusion of private sector and various other stakeholders within the framework was also a great achievement.
Calls were strong among civil society groups and nongovernmental organizations for enhanced proactive investment to lessen disaster damage and promote sustainable growth, as it is now widely recognized that the number of climate change-related natural calamities are increasing.
The framework recognized climate change as “one of the drivers of disaster risk” and underlined the need to address the issue.
The Sendai gathering is the first in a series of crucial international meetings this year on development goals and climate change, including the 21st Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Paris at the end of the year.
The U.N. conference on disaster management was held in the city of Yokohama in 1994 and in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, in 2005. The new framework replaces the Hyogo Framework for Action that covered the past decade.
Over 100 world leaders and ministers attended the Sendai conference, while around 40,000 people attended public forums on the sidelines of the plenary sessions.