Sendai conference leaves vital needs of the world’s most vulnerable people

A new global plan to reduce the risk of disasters, due to be adopted at a U.N. conference in Japan today will not meet the most vital needs of vulnerable people in the developing world, World Vision has noted. 

With negotiations between world leaders taking four long days and often stretching into the night, sticky points have persisted around issues of accountability, finance and support from the developed world to developing countries. This impasse resulted in snags which delayed an announcement of an agreement by several hours, on Wednesday.

Maggie Ibrahim, World Vision UK’s resilience manager said: “We have noted that the final round of talks on post 2015 disaster risk reduction framework has been marred by regressive stances on some really vital issues that will affect our work and programmes with the most vulnerable communities across the world.

“While leaders here can be commended for spotlighting issues effecting the disabled, women and children, the new plan will largely neglect a commitment to international co-operation between richer countries and the developing world. It has been critical to finalise and adopt a bold new international agreement on disaster reduction, which sets a precedent for the two upcoming agreements on climate change and sustainable development later this year. What we have seen instead is that wealthy countries - which are ready to set ambitious global goals to reduce disaster - are reluctant to commit any additional funding to help achieve them.

“We are also concerned about the agreement’s oversight on making provisions for the most vulnerable communities with resources and tools to build life skills that would enable them to better prepare for disasters and avert crises. In a way, this new plan in its current text and form has only become weaker with every subsequent draft,” she explained.

A strong agreement at this conference had been described as “critical” by experts. Governments were meant to achieve a new, post-2015 Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) that builds on the successes of the Hyogo Framework, while also addressing its gaps. 

In 2005, the international community agreed on a 10-year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards called the Hyogo Framework for Action on DRR. The Hyogo Framework helped to raise the international profile and prominence of DRR, and has led to the creation of national-level DRR laws and institutions in many countries.

However, those laws and institutions haven’t always translated into the desired impact as local governments and civil society groups—usually the first to respond once disaster strikes—still too often lack adequate resources, authority, and capacity to lead strong and effective DRR efforts at the frontline.