The Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific manages or engages with a number of platforms and programs to support disaster risk reduction efforts and accelerate implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in the region.

Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction (APP-DRR) Forum

The Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction (APP-DRR) Forum [formerly known as the ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP)] was set up in 2003 as an informal multi-stakeholder forum to promote disaster risk reduction in the Asia & Pacific region. Organised and convened by the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the forum has grown to become one of the most important regional platforms for DRR. The forum includes governments, inter-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, the UN, international organizations, and bilateral and multilateral donors. The APP-DRR advances disaster risk reduction through supporting the implementation of the Sendai Framework and the Asia Regional Plan.

The last APP-DRR was held virtually on 1-2 December 2020 and the next is scheduled to be in December 2021. 

Pacific Resilience Meeting

The Pacific Resilience Partnership (PRP) is mandated by the leaders of Pacific countries to support national implementation of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP). This multi-sector, multi-stakeholder mechanism comprises representatives from the region’s countries and territories, civil society and private sector, and regional organisations and development partners. UNDRR, along with UNDP, represents the entire UN system on the PRP. An important pillar of the PRP is the biennial Pacific Resilience Meeting (PRM), which recommends priority actions for integrated disaster and climate risk reduction at all levels to advance the FRDP. The inaugural PRM in May 2019 in Suva, Fiji, was themed ‘Youth Futures in a Resilient Pacific’. For more information about the meeting.

Capacity building and training

UNDRR conducts capacity building and training workshops at the regional and country level to support Member States, partner organizations and stakeholders. Over the last two years, many of these workshops have been focused on helping countries achieve major milestones along the path of implementing the Sendai Framework, in particular:

- Collection and reporting of data on progress in reducing disaster risk via the Sendai Framework Monitor.

- The creation and maintenance of disaster loss database to track the impact of disasters and identify trends.

- The development and implementation of national or local disaster risk reduction strategies, and ensuring their coherence with national development and climate action plans. 

UNDRR also works to strengthen the capacity of United Nations country teams to inform the integration of DRR into country analysis and programs. In addition, UNDRR has provided inter-governmental organizations in Asia-Pacific, such as ASEAN and SAARC, to increase their awareness of disaster risk reduction and the benefits of integrating it in their sectoral plans. Other topics on which UNDRR has organized consultative workshops to mainstream disaster risk reduction into other sectors, include the integration of DRR tools into the humanitarian action cycle and strengthening the resilience of micro, small and medium enterprises. 

Making Cities Resilient Campaign

Operational since 2010, the Making Cities Resilient (MCR) Campaign is a partnering initiative of local government alliances for disaster risk reduction with peer learning opportunities. The aim of the campaign is to encourage mayors, local governments and national authorities to take action towards making cities resilient as part of sustainable urbanization.

The campaign has developed a set of guidance documents, toolkits, and assessment tools. A key tool is the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities. The Scorecard provides a set of assessments that will allow local governments to assess their disaster resilience, structuring around UNDRR’s Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient. It also helps to monitor and review progress and challenges in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

MCR website.