India to host international meet on disaster risk reduction

India will host the Asian ministerial conference for disaster risk reduction next month which will focus on partnership with governments and stakeholders to imbibe the practices in the region’s development narrative.

This is the first AMCDRR after the advent of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRRR), adopted at the third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March, 2015. It will set the direction of Sendai Framework implementation in the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the conference that will be held here on November 3-5 in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

The conference aims at transforming the commitments of governments and stakeholders during the Sendai Conference into national and local action.

The hosting of the conference re-affirms India’s commitment to the cause of disaster risk reduction, an official statement said.

Established in 2005, AMCDRR is a biennial conference jointly organised by different Asian countries and the UNISDR.

So far, six AMCDRR conferences have been organised. India had also hosted the second AMCDRR in New Delhi in 2007.India’s commitment to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is evident from the fact that it became one of the first countries to align its National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) with SFDRRR.

The meet will focus on collaboration, consultation and partnership with governments and stakeholders to mainstream DRR in the region’s development narrative.

The conference will adopt the ‘Asian Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework’ endorsed by the Asian countries. It will also consolidate the political commitment of governments towards preventing and reducing risk as well as strengthening resilience in the form of a political declaration, the statement said. 

Voluntary statements of action of stakeholder groups towards a ‘shared responsibility’ approach in implementation of the SFDRR would also be adopted.

The conference will discuss issues related to DRR in six technical, 22 thematic and three featured sessions during the conference. The technical events will be broadly based on themes related to risk sensitive development for community resilience, the statement said.

The thematic and featured events will centre around themes related to inclusive development such as risk resilient infrastructure for sustainable development; application of science and technology for prevention of new risks; strengthening community resilience; gender sensitive DRR; child-centred DRR; and risk financing - disaster risk: identification and financing solutions.