From Yokohama to Sendai: approaches to participation in international disaster risk reduction frameworks

International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, June 2015, doi:10.1007/s13753-015-0053-6:

Taking the importance of local action as a starting point, this article looks at the treatment of participation, the incorporation of indigenous knowledge, and local context—factors widely cited as being essential to both development and DRR—across the major frameworks for disaster (risk) reduction negotiated over the last two decades: the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safer World, the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015 (HFA), and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR).

The goal is to highlight shifts in the way international frameworks relate to the local level as a pathway to improve effectiveness of DRR action plans. The article concludes by considering the implications of these findings for the treatment and inclusion of community actors in forthcoming SDGs and climate negotiations (COP21) in ways that better reflect realities and needs at a grassroots scale.