Mapping the baseline: To what extent are displacement and other forms of human mobility integrated in national and regional disaster risk reduction strategies?

This report and its accompanying dataset map and review the extent to which disaster-related human mobility issues and provisions are included in national and regional disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies. The report and dataset provide a preliminary baseline for monitoring progress in terms of the integration of displacement and other forms of human mobility in national and regional DRR strategies in line with Target E of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The framework aims to substantially increase the number of national and local DRR strategies adopted and implemented by 2020. 

Findings of the report include:

• The number of national DRR strategies identified (82) represents less than half (42 percent) of the 193 Member States of the UN General Assembly that adopted the Sendai Framework. 
• Many of the national strategy documents need to be updated and/or need to be aligned with the Sendai Framework. 
• Most of the national DRR strategies reviewed (83 percent) do make some reference to human mobility issues through the inclusion of language on displacement, migration, evacuation, relocation, and other proxy terms such as the loss of housing and need for shelter. 
• “Displacement” and “migration” are frequently recognized as consequences and drivers of disaster risk. 

This review affirms the wide relevance of human mobility issues to DRR based on how frequently they are already referenced in existing strategies. At the same time, the report provides strong, diverse, and inspiring examples of how governments are integrating these issues. It also reveals gaps and weaknesses, however, in terms of both the absence of DRR strategies and their quality in this regard.