Europe

The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South-Eastern Europe (DPPI SEE), established in 2000, provides a framework for SEE countries to strengthen their capacities to prevent and respond to hazards.

With financial support from the EU, and the facilitation of UNDRR, the city of Bishkek launched its Detailed Disaster Resilience Scorecard Assessment process, which forms a part of the city’s wider Local Disaster Resilience Strategy development process.

Non-governmental stakeholder groups, including the private sector and scientific organizations, have increased their commitments to DRR since 2019, according to a new report released by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

Opening remarks of SRSG Mami Mizutori at the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction

From the perspective of disaster risk reduction, which is a main theme of this conference, and from that of my agency, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the concern about the risks posed by water-related hazards is increasing to say the least. There is no doubt that water-related hazards, too much or too less, are growing in intensity and frequency.

Participants to the pledge commit to making disaster prevention and resilience a priority and accelerating the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 according to the EFDRR Roadmap 2021-2030.

The EFDRR Roadmap 2021-2030 identifies four shared priority areas to achieve the priorities of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, including 16 common action areas for development and investment and five enabling approaches.

In this session, Róisín Jordan (Alliance Manchester Business School), Luis Carvalho (Municipality of Amadora), and Idan Sasson (Climate Policy Initiative) share their work on DRR as well as their experience using the Voluntary Commitments platform.

The compound effects of these events with the COVID-19 pandemic during the last 18-months, clearly demonstrates the need for greater investment in disaster risk reduction and a multi-hazard approach to disaster risk management. Europe has seen a number of dramatic events across its territory, many of which exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. Climate extreme events such as flooding and wild fires have caused great trauma across different regions of Europe, as seen with the dramatic forest fires in Greece and the Mediterranean basin, floods affecting Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg this summer and only recently in parts of France, to name but a few. Other natural disasters such as the volcanic eruption severely affecting the Canary Islands demonstrate the very complex risk landscape across the European region and the extent to which solidarity and cooperation in these difficult times is critical.

This report aims to support the delivery of risk-informed investment by those who make investment decisions, primarily in the financial services sector. The report documents the progress that has been made and the barriers that need to be overcome.