Overview

UNDRR’s New York Liaison Office (NYLO) provides policy advice and support to UN Member and Observer States and other stakeholders, supports the Office of the Secretary-General, and closely works with UN system partners to advance disaster risk reduction and Sendai Framework  implementation. 

The NYLO promotes policy coherence across disaster risk reduction, climate action, sustainable development, and financing for development through intergovernmental deliberations and policy decisions taken at the General Assembly and ECOSOC.  

This includes promoting DRR integration and coherence with the Sendai Framework in the implementation of major intergovernmental agreements, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries, the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries and the Samoa Pathway for Small Island Developing States, to ensure their implementation benefits from and contributes to reducing disaster risk. 

UN Resolutions

News

As this September’s anticipated UN Summit to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) draws near, intergovernmental discussions in New York are focusing on how their implementation will be measured and tracked.
The 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR15) is launched today by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today warned that “growing global inequality, increasing exposure to natural hazards, rapid urbanization and the overconsumption of energy and natural resources threaten to drive risk to dangerous and unpredictable levels with systemic global impacts.”
Rendering of Southwest Resiliency Park. (Photo: UNISDR)
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has designated the City of Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, as a Role Model City of the Making Cities Resilient campaign for its flood risk management practices. These include plans to retain over a million gallons of stormwater runoff through green infrastructure.
Strategies can be developed as part of an overall vision to make cities of all sizes more resilient and liveable. (Photo: Magnus Larsson)
This week’s UN Climate Summit has generated commitments to raise $2 billion of in-kind and direct support for cities threatened by extreme weather events fuelled by climate change.
During the course, students Thomas Hrabal and Joseph DeLorenzo present their research on disaster resilience measures in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. (Photo: UNISDR)
Eighteen students at Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, have just completed the university’s first-ever course on disaster risk reduction, in part as a result of Hurricane Sandy which killed at least 117 people and caused $65 billion worth of damage in the US alone.
This new initiative brings together leading names in business, investment, insurance, the public sector, business education and civil society to develop global standards and promote risk-sensitive investment.
Following on a statement by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that “economic losses are out of control and can only be reduced in partnership with the private sector,” the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today launched the R!SE Initiative to mainstream disaster risk management into corporate planning and investment decision-making.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
The vital role of cities as engines of climate resilience has been recognised with the appointment of the former mayor of New York City, Michael R. Bloomberg, as Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
<b>Building resilience: </b>A Bangladeshi woman helps in community efforts of flood prevention. Her government and others are looking at the Sustainable Development Goals as an opportunity to transform development.
“Disaster risk reduction should not be seen only as an imperative to protecting investments in development, but also as an opportunity for a transformative shift towards resilient development.” This rousing statement from disaster-prone Bangladesh was one of several calls from governments for disaster and climate risk considerations to be incorporated at every stage of development. The seventh session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals heard consistent support for the integration of disaster risk management within each sector that may be addressed by the goals, such as poverty eradication, energy, health, food security.
<b>A changing city: </b>New York Air National Guard respond after Sandy, which has prompted a major review of the city's disaster management.
Exactly a year ago, Sandy proved to be the most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, severely impacting lives and economies in seven countries. For the United States, it was the second-costliest hurricane in its history and affected the entire eastern seaboard, causing an alarming economic bill of up to $50 billion. New York City was one of the worst affected. On the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy this week, however, the city appears occupied with its future rather than its past. Heeding the signs of a changing climate, in June this year, New York City released its plan to protect the city from coastal hazards and climate change impacts called A Stronger, More Resilient New York.
The cast of the off-Broadway Theater Breaking Through Barriers premiered their play 'Ready, Willing and Able' at the UNISDR's New York celebrations for the 2013 International Day for Disatser Reduction.
The 2013 International Day for Disaster Reduction has seen remarkable efforts by artists and the creative community at large to rally for an inclusive and resilient world.
No results found!
Wanawake Kwanza (Women First) growers association in Maza village, Morogoro, Tanzania
DRR and LDC5
Speeches
Speeches and statements
Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
Global Platform