Options for including disaster resilience in post-2015 development goals

Posted on: 30 October 2012
By: mackene
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This paper, from the Overseas Development Institute, considers options for including disaster resilience in a post-2015 devel­opment framework. It sets out potential indicators and targets for a specific goal on disaster resilience, as well as considering the opportunities for building disaster resilience into indicators for other sector goals, and what these might be. It looks at how to measure these, what baselines exist and whether data are available. It also examines options for including humanitarian assistance within a new framework.

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Reducing vulnerability and exposure to disasters: Asia-Pacific disaster report 2012

Posted on: 24 October 2012
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A UN Report released at the opening of the Fifth Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction on 22 October 2012 shows that Asia and the Pacific is paying a huge price for extreme weather events which are now impacting negatively on the continent’s economic development. Increasing disaster risks in Asia-Pacific are driven by the twin challenge of increasing exposure of its people and economic assets, and the inability of the most vulnerable groups to cope with disasters, according to the latest assessment of disasters in the region published by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

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Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation

Posted on: 17 October 2012
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The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) has launched a four-part series, Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters: Lessons from the IPCC SREX Report, written for professionals in the water, agriculture, health and ecosystem conservation sectors. The CDKN guides highlight the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (known as ‘SREX’) for each of these sectors, and discuss the implications for decision-making.

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Resilience: New utopia or new tyranny? Reflection about the potentials and limits of the concept of resilience in relation to vulnerability reduction programmes

Posted on: 15 October 2012
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Resilience is becoming influential in development and vulnerability reduction sectors such as social protection, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Policy makers, donors and international development agencies are now increasingly referring to the term. In that context, the objective of this paper was to assess in a critical manner the advantages and limits of resilience. While the review highlights some positive elements, in particular the ability of the term to foster integrated approach across sectors, it also shows that resilience has important limitations. In particular it is not a pro-poor concept, and the objective of poverty reduction cannot simply be substituted by resilience building.

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United Cities and Local Government

Posted on: 11 October 2012
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United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organisation’s stated mission is: To be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local governments, and within the wider international community. Some of the issues covered include: climate change, sustainable development, migration, responsible tourism, disaster risk reduction, urban mobility, urban strategic planning, and water.

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Earthquake strengthen your house: Ways to make your house better cope with earthquakes

Posted on: 2 October 2012
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This guide, published by Wellington City Council, explains the things that can be done to make a house in New Zealand more resilient to earthquakes. It describes the stresses that earthquakes place on houses, and some risk factors that might make a house more or less susceptible to damage. It also gives practical guidance on things a residential property owner can do to his house that may reduce the risk of damage in an earthquake.

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Making Cities Resilient Report 2012

Posted on: 5 September 2012
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A new study of a major urban safety campaign launched by the UN two years ago has found that political leadership is more important than a city’s wealth when it comes to protecting the lives and economic assets of cities and towns from disasters. The report, undertaken by a team from the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, provides a global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk.

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Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction Online Dialogues

Posted on: 21 August 2012
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As part of the consultations on a post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction (DRR), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) is convening an online dialogue. UNISDR is gathering views on the future of the post-2015 framework for DRR and the results of the online dialogues will provide the substance for a post-2015 framework for DRR, expected to be agreed at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction scheduled to convene in 2015. The online dialogue will extend from 27 August to 30 November 2012.

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Disaster risk reduction in school curricula: case studies from thirty countries

Posted on: 20 August 2012
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This publication captures key national experiences in the integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the curriculum, identifying good practice, noting issues addressed or still lacking, and reviewing learning outcomes. The study researched DRR related curriculum development and integration, pedagogy, student assessment, teacher professional development and guidance, learning outcomes and policy development, planning and implementation aspects covering thirty countries. It asserts that while education systems are greatly affected by disaster, they are also key to reducing risk and strengthening disaster resilience. Quality education can deliver life-saving and life sustaining knowledge, skills, and attitudes that protect children and young people during and after emergencies.

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Resilient cities webinars

Posted on: 5 July 2012
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The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Making Cities Resilient Campaign: My City is Getting Ready!, and the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) and its Task Group on Disasters and Built Environment (TG63) have staged a series of online seminars in May and June 2012 to look at key areas for intervention related to the growing risks of natural hazards in urban areas and identification of solutions to enable cities to grow in a safe and sustainable way. The main topics of presentations and discussion at the four webinars were: Enabling risk reduction through urban planningl Engaging multiple stakeholders in urban disaster risk reduction;  People’s needs and expectations in post-disaster reconstruction; and Ten essentials for making cities resilient: Local government self assessment tool. Recordings of the webinars are available online.

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