Reducing Climate-Related Disasters: UN's Decade-Long Effort - Essay Sample

Introduction

The exponential increase in human, material and environmental damage associated with climate-related disasters over the last decades in countries around the world has led the United Nations (UN) to promote debates on the theme with a view to potentiating efforts to reduce disasters (Burns & Machado Des Johansson, 2017; Kelman, Gaillard, & Mercer, 2015). Thus, the UN declared the 1990s as the international decade for the reduction of climate-related disasters. And in 1994, the first world conference on disaster reduction was held in Yokohama, Japan, which resulted in the document entitled "Global effort to create a culture of risk reduction, preparedness and prevention" (UNISDR, 2015). In 1999, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - ISDR (UNISDR) was created, linked to the UN and dedicated to the study and financing of initiatives aimed at subsidizing or acting in the prevention of disasters by promoting the exchange of experiences between the affected regions and countries.

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In 2005, a second international conference resulted in the "Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building resilience in nations and communities in the face of disasters". More recently, in 2015, the third conference was held in Japan to discuss the topic. In addition to evaluating the results of the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action - HFA, conference participants produced a document with new guidelines for DRR entitled "Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030" (Albrito, 2018; UNISDR, 2015). This new milestone has been the subject of studies that seek to subsidize the adequacy of laws and technical procedures, necessary to enable the achievement of the goals established in the Sendai Framework.

If public policies were previously focused on disaster management, the historical evolution of the treatment of this issue strengthened the understanding that it is necessary to emphasize disaster risk management (DRM), which involves: The set of administrative decisions, organization and operational knowledge developed by societies and communities to implement policies, strategies and strengthen their capacities in order to reduce the impacts of natural threats and consequent environmental and technological disasters (Shaw, Pulhin, & Pereira, 2010).

Among the elements that contribute to the increase in the risk of disasters, the HFA highlighted: the growth of populations, the increase in urban density, weak governance, urban development without planning, areas with low-income populations, vulnerable buildings, the concentration of income and the decline of ecosystems. Thus, measures were proposed to promote the transition from the disaster management paradigm, with a focus on response, to the approach to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, with a focus on preparedness and prevention, emphasizing five priority areas: 1) making risk reduction a priority; 2) knowing the risks and acting; 3) increasing understanding and awareness; 4) reducing risk of disaster; and, 5) being prepared to act (Begum, Sarkar, Jaafar, & Pereira, 2014; Nelson, Adger, & Brown, 2007; UNISDR, 2015).

Among the commitments made by the countries that joined the HFA was the submission of progress reports to UNISDR to enable diagnostic assessments of the implementation of the framework. The consolidated results were presented in the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction - GAR published by the UN in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019 (McGlade et al., 2019).

Recognizing that the increase in disaster risks is directly related to the way cities deal with land management, the UN launched the campaign "Building Resilient Cities - My City is getting ready!" Aiming to encourage municipal managers to take actions that make their cities more resilient to disasters. With the campaign set to expire in 2020, the international agency launched the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) to continue efforts of reducing climate risks (Albrito, 2018).

Hazards and Development of Disaster Risks From Climate Change

In the recent stage, several countries have been creating regulatory frameworks on the subject of risk management and adaptation to climate change at the national and sub-national levels. However, there is still a need to push for change, and also for appropriate policies by which the rules become effective. On the other hand, there are problems with existing regulations, fundamentally their dispersion and conflicts between sectoral competencies. In recent regulations, the Ecological and Economic Zoning and territorial planning plans have been included, according to types of sustainable use (Burns & Machado Des Johansson, 2017). These instruments favor the application of the risk management approach by reducing the negative effects of human intervention on the territory and help to better take advantage of opportunities for development. On the other hand, for several years a National Public Investment System has been implemented in different countries and, currently, it seeks to promote the rational use of public resources, which is why it is requiring that projects investment strategies incorporate risk adaptation as an approach.

To operationalize the above, advances have been made in instruments that include this aspect, such as concerted development plans and Ecological and Economic Zoning processes. An important and growing practice is the formation of inter-institutional networks, both in relation to risk adaptation and emergency and disaster response, with increasing levels of information exchange (Begum et al., 2014). Such networks are inserted in the development and concerted planning processes, generating incidence to reduce vulnerability (Lei, Yue, Zhou, & Yin, 2014).

At the same time, information systems are being implemented, which are something new, so there are still problems regarding updated, uniform and adequate information; in rural areas these problems are added to the lack of information in a particularly serious way. Another aspect that is affected is the development of capacities in climate change, which is gathering and enhancing the traditional knowledge and technological systems used for adaptation and mitigation of climate variabilities (Nelson et al., 2007; Schipper, Thomalla, Vulturius, Davis, & Johnson, 2016).

Definitions, Concepts and Frameworks for Disaster Risk Adaptation

The Need for Adaptation in Disaster Risk

Local government officials from around the world showed interest in participating in the UN's Building Resilient Cities campaign, which resulted in the adherence of almost 3000 municipalities that currently have the certificate of resilient city, recognizing the efforts made at the local level to reduce disasters. Many countries have been seeking to improve their procedures for disaster prevention by implementing Disaster risk reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CAA) (Albrito, 2018; Kelman, Gaillard, & Mercer, 2015). It is recommended to maintain the global temperature increase below 1.5C so that human adaptation to the effects of climate change will be less difficult. Our world will suffer less negative impacts on intensity and frequency of extreme events, on resources, ecosystems, biodiversity, food security, cities, tourism, and carbon removal. Such campaigns have great importance in terms of mobilizing local agents, leading them to rethink their practices and see new possibilities in the design of their programs and actions within the context of sustainable development (Burns et al., 2017).

At the international DRR conference held in Japan in 2015, the results were evaluated obtained after ten years of Hyogo's Action Framework. The experience in implementing this framework, the challenges found and the proposals to overcome them in order to advance in disaster risk reduction were the elements that guided the new guidelines established in the document resulting from this conference, the "Sendai Framework for the Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030" (Islam, Chu, & Smart, 2020). This new framework adopts four priority areas, namely: 1) understanding of disaster risk; 2) strengthening governance for disaster risk management; 3) investment in disaster risk reduction for resilience; and, 4) improvement in disaster preparedness to improve the response and better reconstruction in the stages of recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction (Albrito, 2018; Burns et al., 2017; Van der Keur et al., 2016).

With regard to priority area 1, it is necessary to generate data that takes into account the consequences of disasters at the local scale, but also the ways in which these events are inserted in a broader context (regional, national and global). It is also essential that public servants and other interested parties expand their knowledge of disaster risk management. At this point, this theme should be addressed in the formal and informal education system, and it is interesting to use geographic information systems, social networks and websites to disseminate information, in addition to holding events and courses for training (UNISDR, 2015).

Regarding the strengthening of disaster risk governance (priority area 2), the framework points to the need to substantially increase the number of countries with national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction by 2020, with different scales of time and foreseen goals, indicators and deadlines. Another key issue for strengthening DRM governance is the formulation of policies that address the prevention and relocation of human settlements in areas subject to disasters (river banks, hillsides, etc.). In the same way, mechanisms and incentives must be developed and updated to allow for disaster risk reduction in sectoral laws and regulations (buildings, urban planning, land use, environmental management, water management, etc.) (Begum et al., 2014; Serrao-Neumann et al., 2015).

Within priority area 3, which deals with investments in DRR for resilience, countries should promote financial protection in the context of disasters, through the creation of insurance and other adequate mechanisms. In addition, governments should step up investments in increasing resilience, and should also include issues relevant to disaster risk management in their development projects.

In order to improve disaster preparedness (priority area 4) it is recommended that after the occurrence of disasters, the following aspects should be considered in the reconstruction: adoption of soil planning measures, constructions and resilient structural standards in order to integrate the risks into recovery and rehabilitation steps; the relocation of public infrastructure outside risk areas; and, the provision of psychosocial support and mental health services to all people in need. The strengthening of national and local contexts is evidenced in the Sendai Framework as an essential element for the effectiveness and efficiency of disaster risk management measures. In this sense, the importance of establishing clear roles and responsibilities for stakeholders is reinforced, including in this context, in addition to the different levels of government: the most vulnerable groups (children, women, the elderly, the disabled, migrants, indigenous peoples), civil society representations, private institutions (companies, professional associations, financial institutions, etc.), academia (universities, research networks and scientific entities), as well as means of communication, entities and international organizations, among other local actors (UNISDR, 2015; Lei et al., 2014).

Elements of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation

There are several proposals for conceptualizing...