Global assessment report on disaster risk reduction 2013
From shared risk to shared value, the business case for disaster risk reduction:
The third edition of the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is a resource for understanding and analysing global disaster risk today and in the future. It explores why increasing disaster risks represent a growing problem for the economic and business community at different scales and examines how paradoxically business investments that aimed to strengthen competitiveness and productivity may have inadvertently contributed to increasing risk. The report seeks to engage businesses in a dialogue on disaster risk management that goes beyond the current emphasis on response and preparedness and instead identifies opportunities for the creation of shared value for business and society. It offers businesses as well as investors for the first time a review of practices that can reduce their risk of disaster loss.
The GAR 2013 explores how businesses, by investing in disaster risk management, can reduce costs and interruptions represented by disaster losses and impacts; how performance and reputation can also be enhanced by minimising uncertainty and unpredictability; why effectively managing disaster risks should be the hallmark of a competitive, sustainable and resilient business; and why a broader approach to business value creation that also addresses underlying drivers of risk is required. It highlights the interdependence of the public and private sectors and why business competitiveness, sustainability and resilience will also depend on governments’ ability to manage disaster risk through effective policies.
The previous two editions of the GAR were predominantly written for an audience of policy- and decision-makers in government departments. GAR09 laid out key recommendations for governments as well as civil society actors engaged in disaster risk management; GAR11 sought to reach beyond this traditional audience and targeted its analysis and findings particularly at finance and planning ministries of national governments. In expanding its analysis to include and focus on the role of private investment, GAR13 aims at business leaders and private investors, on the one hand, and at local and national regulators, on the other hand.