The future of disaster risk management: an on-going discussion

Draft synthesis document, meeting notes, background papers and additional materials:

This paper is intended to contribute to informing the on-going consultations and discussions on the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction (DRR). It (i) raises an evident contradiction between progresses towards achieving the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) and rising losses; (ii) looks back at the conceptual underpinnings of disaster risk reduction; (iii) considers risk governance and institutions; (iv) focuses on the political and economic imperative for disaster risk reduction; (v) looks forward to a new imaginary of disaster risk management; (vi) considers embedding risk governance; (vii) calls for building a political and economic imperative for disaster risk management; and (viii) highlights the implications for the post-2015 framework for DRR.

This paper is an outcome of a discussion on the past and future of disaster risk management that gathered about twenty disaster risk and development specialists in early June 2013. The discussion was set out to identify key challenges to the effective management of disaster risk beyond 2015. The paper attempts to reproduce in logical fashion a narrative that articulates the sum of the different opinions voiced in the meeting. It provides a starting point for further and wider debate over the next twelve months.

This document is the fifth in a series of instrumental papers intended to help national consultations and Regional Platforms deliberate on the content and form of the post-2015 framework for DRR and the commitments they need to make at the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to implement the post-2015 framework for DRR.