When the 10-year period of the Hyogo Framework of Action ended in 2015, many countries in Asia-Pacific showed moderate to substantial progress in disaster risk governance and policy formulation, risk identification, assessment and early warning. However, progress has proved to be much slower in reducing the underlying risk factors resulting mainly from the weak integration of disaster risk reduction into broader development planning and sectors.
Risk reduction and resilience is now embedded in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is a common thrust across the various global development frameworks adopted in 2015 and 2016, namely the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, Paris Agreement, Agenda for Humanity, and the New Urban Agenda. Coherence is further bolstered by the alignment between the Sendai Framework and Sustainable Development Goals indicators. To date, four of the Sendai Framework indicators form part of the Sustainable Development indicators framework, namely in Goals 1 (ending poverty), 11 (cities and human settlements), and 13 (climate). This alignment bodes well for fostering consistency and institutional coordination in monitoring and reporting at national and local levels. Disaster risk reduction is also an enabler of more than a dozen indicator spanning food security, human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem-related targets.
Coherence is critical in harnessing the combined strengths of these frameworks. The 2030 Agenda includes a dedicated target (17.14) on enhancing policy coherence for sustainable development. In the specific context of disaster risk reduction, coherence and integration is the primary policy direction for the implementation of the Sendai Framework in Asia as stated in the Asia Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework.
ESCAP has been convening a Regional Learning Platform (RLP) series on policy coherence for disaster risk reduction and resilience annually since 2016. The RLP in 2016 introduced policy coherence as a comprehensive repose to the global development frameworks. In 2017, the RLP provided opportunities for senior policy makers to exchange emerging best practices on coherence at across various policy domains such as climate change adaptation and agriculture.
The current (2018) RLP aims to further build the capacity of participants to provide analytical support to the process of achieving coherence in their respective countries through innovative and evidence-based approaches. In addition to sharing good practices, the learning platform will present innovative tools and approaches, such as the systems approach to prioritizing development investments, understanding the risk transmission mechanism across the SDG goals and targets, ex-ante multi-sector risk assessment, and measuring risk and resilience for planning and investments.
