Launch of the 2009 ISDR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Risk and poverty in a changing climate

Global launch, Manama, Bahrain, May 17 -18 2009

The Report is the first biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction prepared in the context of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). The Report was coordinated by UNISDR, in collaboration with UNDP, the World Bank, UNEP, WMO, UNESCO, the ProVention Consortium, the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and a wide range of other ISDR partners. The Kingdom of Bahrain, the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), UNDP, UNEP, the Government of Norway, the Government of Switzerland, the ProVention Consortium and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) contributed financial resources that enabled the successful development of the Report.

The Report identifies disaster risk, analyses its causes, shows that these causes can be addressed and recommends the means to do so. The over-riding message of the Report is that reducing disaster risk can also help in reducing poverty, safeguarding development and adapting to climate change, with beneficial effects on broader global security, stability and sustainability. Given the urgency posed by climate change, the Report forcefully argues the case for taking action now. The Report presents a Twenty Point Plan to Reduce Disaster Risk to guide and inform national and international policy.