Welcome to the United Nations
Excellency,
I am writing in response to your letter of 16 November 2021 inviting the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to provide input to the thematic review of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in 2022. Disaster risk reduction is at the core of this year’s HLPF theme, including the central provision of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 to “build back better.” Integrating risk reduction into the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including emerging lessons learned from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is fundamental for a resilient, green, and equitable recovery from the crisis. A risk-informed and prevention-oriented approach to economic, climate and development policy at all levels is an imperative for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
I am pleased to inform you that the 2021 Regional Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction, hosted by the Governments of Jamaica, Kenya, Morocco and Portugal and organized by UNDRR and intergovernmental organizations in each region, were successfully held throughout November 2021. The Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held in September 2022. The Regional Platforms, organised every three years, are critical milestones towards the achievement of the SDGs by 2030 through building resilience. They are ready-made examples of the inclusive and networked multilateralism recommended by the Secretary-General in his report on “Our Common Agenda”. It is with pleasure that UNDRR offers the outcomes of the Regional Platforms to promote risk-informed and prevention-oriented policy and programmes across the work of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Highlights of the Platforms’ Political Declarations and other outcomes are hereby submitted as inputs to the 2022 HLPF (enclosed in Annex 2).
All Political Declarations and outcomes of the Regional Platforms promote a comprehensive approach to risk management that fosters policy and programmatic coherence across sustainable development, climate action, humanitarian response and recovery, and the preservation of biodiversity and ecological systems at all levels. They convey the clear message that, in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda, risk that currently exists within economic, social and environmental systems must be reduced and the creation of future risks prevented. They also point to the systemic nature of risk linked to the cascading social, economic, political and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis and other disasters. The urgency of building resilience through the integration of disaster risk reduction into socio-economic recovery and long-term development measures is clear throughout, and there is a strong message that development that is not risk-informed is not sustainable.
The Regional Platforms’ declarations and outcomes offer policy guidance and practical solutions to accelerate the implementation of the Sendai Framework around issues fundamental to the transition from creating risk to building resilience, including in relation to the SDGs under review in 2022. Related to SDG 4, there is an appreciation of the need to promote awareness and knowledge among children and youth towards a culture of disaster prevention and resilience, including by promoting and strengthening a systemic approach to school safety and integrating risk preparedness, prevention and response in school curriculums. Towards the attainment of SDG 5, gender-responsive and inclusive disaster risk reduction and the need to collect disaggregated risk data and increase women leaders’ capacity and visibility in disaster risk reduction is underscored. The need to integrate ecosystem-based solutions and scale-up investments for disaster risk reduction, climate action and the 2030 Agenda is recognized as important towards the attainment of SDGs 14 and 15. Risk reduction is at the heart of SDG 17. Disaster risk reduction requires all-of-society engagement and partnership supported by capacity building for data collection and technology transfer. There is also an urgent need to increase financing for disaster risk reduction and to de-risk investments in all sectors. Annex 1 outlines additional inputs on the SDGs under review, and addresses the questions posed for consideration in your letter.
As we approach the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework, the ECOSOC will play a critical in underlining that reducing risk and building resilience are fundamental to achieving the SDGs and necessitate transformation in environmental, social, financial and governance systems. This will reverberate across work of the ECOSOC in 2022, including the Coordination Segment, Commission on the Status of Women, Forum on Financing for Development, and the Humanitarian Affairs Segment, and culminating at the HLPF. UNDRR looks forward to working with your Office to ensure that the outcomes of the Regional Platforms will promote a risk-informed and prevention-oriented policy and programmes across the work of the ECOSOC in 2022 and beyond.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mami Mizutori
Special Representative of the Secretary-General
for Disaster Risk Reduction
