Sample Chapter - United Nations University

THE RELEVANCE OF ECOSYSTEMS FOR DRR 7
(2005–2015): Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters”,
which emanated from the World Conference on Disaster Reduction
held in 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan and which was subsequently
adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (A/RES/60/1952)
in January 2006. The Indian Ocean tsunami also focused global attention
on the environmental impacts of the disaster (including from postdisaster
response and reconstruction operations) and highlighted the potential
role of coastal ecosystems in providing hazard protection and
mitigation. It was during this period that global environmental initiatives
such as Mangroves for the Future were launched.
The role of ecosystems in DRR is now well acknowledged in the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), which involves the
international community in promoting global DRR through implementation
of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). The HFA has five priorities
for action with respect to building resilience to disasters (UNISDR,
2005). One of these priorities for action, entitled “Reduce the underlying
risk factors”, recommends two key activities that have a direct link to ecosystems
and ecosystem management (UNISDR, 2005: 10–11):
1. Environmental and natural resource management with components
that include:
a. sustainable use and management of ecosystems;
b. implementation of integrated environmental and natural resource
management approaches that incorporate disaster risk reduction;
c. linking disaster risk reduction with existing climate variability and
future climate change.
2. Land-use planning and other technical measures with a component on
incorporating disaster risk assessment into rural development planning
and management.
The ISDR Global Assessment Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction in
2009 and 2011 (UNISDR, 2009b, 2011) as well as the Chair Summaries of
both the 2009 and 2011 Global Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction
have highlighted the importance of integrating ecosystem management as
a key component in DRR strategies. The recent IPCC Special Report (2012)
has subsequently echoed this message in stressing the value of investing
in ecosystems as part of climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies, and
ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) has been formally endorsed by the
Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, under the auspices
of the Nairobi Work Programme of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (discussed further below). Moreover,
outcomes from “Rio+20 – The Future We Want” now clearly recognize
DRR as a critical component of sustainable development. At a UN General
Assembly Thematic Debate on Disaster Risk Reduction in April
2012 in New York, organized in preparation for the Rio+20 conference,