Women and girls need to be at the core of disaster risk reduction, given that they often bear the brunt of climate change and hazards such as storms and floods, a United Nations human rights body heard today.

Zimbabwe has declared a state of disaster in the face of a regional drought, but smallholder farmers are tackling climate change head on by adopting new livelihood strategies to counter the adverse effects.

A landmark public-private cross-border partnership in Asia is gathering pace in an effort to protect a multi-billion dollar industry on the frontline of hazard exposure.

The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Robert Glasser, today extended his condolences to Fiji on the loss of life from Cyclone Winston and commended the government for its efforts to reduce mortality and the numbers of people affected by the strongest cyclone ever to hit the Pacific country.

In a country that suffered a devastating earthquake almost three decades ago, private sector researchers are helping to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction by harnessing data to lessen the impact of future shakes.

This paper addresses five primary objectives:

1. document country, regional and global coordinated initiatives for development of Early Warning Systems (EWS) underpinned by the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA);
2. assess the current state of implementation

For decades, Mr. Joel Mayatsya has used traditional knowledge as an early warning system for landslides in the hilly area of Bududa, eastern Uganda, helping his community reduce the risk of a rain-triggered disaster.

Hundreds of scientists and policymakers today pledged to step up action on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a 15-year global agreement that aims to curb deaths and economic losses from natural and man-made hazards.