Disaster Risk Reduction to achieve the Sustainable Development: a toolkit for parliamentarians

This toolkit explains the importance of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and how to implement it and provides 10 actions that parliamentarians can employ to effectively influence and implement DRR policy, legal, financial and oversight frameworks adapted to their country’s context. DRR reduces the economic and societal impacts of disasters, maintains and restores ecosystems, and protects and expands development gains. In 2019, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) passed a resolution calling on parliamentarians to include disaster risk reduction (DRR) in their strategies for implementing and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.

The toolkit’s first section defines DRR, the changing nature of disasters and disaster risk, and the importance of DRR in climate change adaptation (CCA) and sustainable development. The second section reviews parliaments’ mandate for DRR, the third section presents 10 recommended DRR actions, and the fourth section defines how to implement these actions and includes brief high-level national and regional examples. The fifth section suggests opportunities when parliamentarians can act on DRR. The annexes contain a glossary, background information and a resource list for more detailed information.

A summary brief with some highlighted country case studies across the 10 actions is also available for download.