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Work starts on a new Global Assessment Report

By Brigitte Leoni

GENEVA, 21 March 2018 - A new Advisory Board met yesterday with UNISDR staff to discuss the direction and content of the 2019 edition of the Global Assessment Report for Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR19), the UN flagship publication which first appeared in 2009.

The GAR is a comprehensive review and analysis of disaster risk and risk management published every two years. The last full GAR edition was launched in March 2015 at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan and looked at how to make development sustainable. In 2017, the GAR Risk Atlas was launched at the Global Platfom for DRR in Cancun, Mexico.

“This first meeting of the GAR advisory board marks the beginning of the next phase in the development of the report,” said Mami Mizutori UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk reduction when she opened the meeting yesterday which was attended by over 20 development and disaster risk reduction experts.

“The GAR will not only assess the status of disaster risk since 2015 but also what it means for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals as no development will be sustainable if it is not risk informed,” she said.

The GAR will report for the first time on the progress made by countries on the implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the global plan for reducing losses.

One chapter will be devoted to target (e) of the Sendai Framework which aims to “substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020.”

Other topics that will be covered relate to the progress on the development of a comprehensive risk assessment framework and an overview of trends in man-made hazards and related environmental, technological and biological hazards. human-made hazards to cover the new scope of hazards defined by the Sendai Framework.

Patrick Kangwa, Deputy-Secretary, the Cabinet Office of the Government of Zambia said: “The GAR should speak to governments and ministers and not to disaster risk reduction experts if we want to see more risk informed investments in the future.” Many participants stressed the fact that the GAR should be a tool to guide political action and drive government agendas.

Several GAR19 Advisory Board members recognized the importance of including drought risk and food security and suggested to create a sub-committee to exchange on drought risk which has been for a long time not so well documented but deserves now more attention.

A new World Bank report called “Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration” estimates that 143 million people could be internally displaced displaced by climate change impacts including drought by 2050.

“I am pleased to see that we have made so much progress since the GAR 2009 on these drought issues,” said Aromar Revi from the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, “and I hope that the GAR 2019 can highlight agriculture models that have proved to be very effective and recommend drought risk measures that will better protect economies based on agriculture and reduce population displacements in the future.”

Based on the recommendations made by Board members, the final contents of the GAR19 will be defiend an a call for papers issued by UNISDR. A draft zero is expected to be ready early October and then reviewed and finalised to be presented at the Next Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction that will take place in Geneva next May 2019.

“I would like to remind everyone of the urgency of our work and the importance of having the necessary information that will help making risk informed investments. Between 205-2015, disasters killed 700 000 people, injured over 1.4 million and economic losses topped USD 1.4 trillion, said Mami Mizutori. We invite you to think about innovative ways of linking disaster risk reduction with other global concerns including climate change adaptation, sustainable development and peace and security to better reduce disaster losses in the future.”

The following is a list of those who participated in the GAR19 Advisory Board meeting either in person or remotely:

Dolika Banda, Africa Risk Capacity Ltd., Kelvin Berryman, Natural Hazards Division, Government of New Zealand, Wadid Erian, League of Arab States, Arab Centre for the Study of Aridity and Desertification, Peter Head, Ecological Sequestration Trust, Molly Jahn, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agronomy, Francisco Jimenez, INEGI - Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, Government of Mexico, Patrick Kangwa, Deputy Secretary, Cabinet Office, Government of Zambia, Allan Lavell, Latin American Social Science Faculty, IRDR, Malini Mehra, GLOBE International, Aromar Revi, Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Juan Pablo Sarmiento, Florida International University, Youba Sokona, Special Advisor on Sustainable Development, The South Centre, IPCC, Alex Wittenberg, arsh&McLennan Companies, Paula Caballero, World Resources Institute (WRI), Rowan Douglas, Willis Towers Watson, Paolo Garonna, Association of Italian Insurers (ANIA) + Professor of Political Economy, Heide Hackmann, ISC, Kamal Kishore, Member, National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India, Shuaib Lwasa, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University / IPCC, Holly Ransom, Emergent, Barbara Ryan, Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and Mark Way, The Nature Conservancy.