Governing complexities and their implications on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction priority 2 on governance

Disasters characteristics are changing: they are likely to be more frequent and intense in the future. Nations, communities, and individuals' current ability to deal with the impacts will be continuously undermined and insufficient to deal with more complex future disasters. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015–2030 is a global strategy for reducing the risks of disasters. It has 4 priorities by which Priority 2 calls for strengthening disaster risk governance (DRG).

This short paper critically analyzes progress, challenges and strategies to strengthen DRG. The authors find that there is enormous progress for DRG planning and implementation at the international, regional and national level, mostly in terms of formation of organizations and networks for DRR. The authors call for increasing the capacity of local actors through providing more resources, data and capacity for decision making. They propose various strategies to deal with future complexities and uncertainties in DRR: reduce the underlying vulnerability as the root cause of disasters; be inclusive/leave no-one behind: focus on vulnerable groups, migrants and the displaced; govern urban disaster risks; govern climate change adaptation and mitigation; and govern for resilience to move towards adaptive and transformative governance.