UNDRR Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2019

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) recently published the 2019 edition of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR), a biannual publication aimed at reporting on worldwide efforts to reduce disaster risk.

The 2019 report is divided into three parts. Part I (Chapters 3-6) focuses on the Sendai Framework’s “broadened view of the world’s risk”. Part II (Chapters 7-9) is devoted to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Finally, Part III (Chapters 10-15) focuses on the creation on conditions for risk management on national and local levels.

The GAR19 is the first edition to report on progress against the Sendai Framework’s seven targets.

In particular, the report puts emphasis on the 2020 Target (e), which aims to “[s]ubstantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020”.  The report provides data on the implementation of Target (e) by States, particularly between 2015 and 2017, as well as information about implementation status in 2018, and concludes that despite progress, the target has not yet been achieved.

The GAR19 is particularly significant as it moves beyond disaster risk to consider the pluralistic nature of risk, consistently with the UNDRR commitment to enhance the understanding of the multiple dimensions of disaster risk. The concept of “systemic risk” is explored in detail in Chapter 2.  The report also highlights the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, which echoes the approach adopted by the Sendai Framework.