Disaster Risk Reduction

ISC, and its predecessor ICSU, have a long history of involvement in the coordination of international research on disaster risk.

Disaster Risk Reduction

Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

2023 marks the midpoint in the implementation period of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, providing a major opportunity to review and bolster implementation of the Framework moving towards 2030, and importantly, strengthen the integration with other international agreements, including the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.

In this context, the ISC established a multi-disciplinary expert group to contribute to the Mid-Term Review (MTR) process led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The group was tasked with developing a short report which will be annexed to the main report led by UNDRR. This ISC report serves as a valuable input from the Science and Technology Community Major Group in the drafting of the UNDRR MTR. The report aims to use scientific knowledge from all disciplines to address risks more holistically and enhance prevention and preparedness.

The findings of the MTR will inform a negotiated political declaration that will be adopted at the High-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Sendai Framework Mid-Term Review in May 2023. It will also feed into the 2023 High-level Political Forum, the SDG Summit and the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development at the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Find out more about the report:

Report for the Mid-Term Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

International Science Council. 2023. Report for the Mid-term Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Paris, France. International Science Council. DOI: 10.24948/2023.01.

You can also read UNDRR’s Report of the Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in which the Council’s report is referenced several times (pages 35, 39, 85, 94, 95).


Expert group

  • Roger Pulwarty (Co-chair), Senior Scientist, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA
  • Rathana Peou Norbert-Munns (Co-chair), Climate Foresight and Scenarios Development Expert at FAO and former Southeast Asia Scenarios Coordinator at CCAFS, Cambodia
  • Kristiann Allen, Executive Secretary, International Network for Government Science Advice, New Zealand
  • Angela Bednarek, Director, evidence project, the Pew Charitable Trusts, USA
  • Charlotte Benson, Principal Disaster Risk Management Specialist, Asian Development Bank, Philippines
  • Alonso Brenes, Coordinator of the Network for Social Studies on Disaster Risk Prevention in Latin America and the Caribbean (LA RED), Costa Rica
  • Maria del Pilar Cornejo, Director, the Pacific International Center for Disaster Risk Reduction, Ecuador
  • Oliver Costello, Project Manager – Traditional Knowledge (Conservation Futures), Bush Heritage Australia, Team Leader – Indigenous Cultural Intellectual Property (ICIP) Aboriginal Strategy and Outcomes, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Australia
  • Susan Cutter, Distinguished Professor, University of South Carolina and Co-Director, Hazards Vulnerability & Resilience Institute Director, IRDR International Center of Excellence (ICoE-VaRM), USA
  • Bapon Fakhruddin, Water Sector Lead, Division of Mitigation and Adaptation, Green Climate Fund, New Zealand
  • Victor Galaz, Deputy director, Stockholm Resilience Center, Sweden
  • Franziska Gaupp, Director, Food Systems Economics Commission, Germany
  • Satoru Nishikawa, Professor, Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University, Japan
  • Aromar Revi, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India
  • Albert Salamanca, Senior Research Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute Asia Center, Thailand
  • Pauline Scheelbeek, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Director – WHO Collaborating Centre, Netherlands
  • Renato Solidum, Undersecretary for Disaster Risk Reduction – Climate Change Adaptation, Department of Science and Technology and Officer-In-Charge, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Philippines

Background and previous work

In 2008, the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk Programme (IRDR) was created, which commenced operation in 2010 and builds upon decades of work by ISC’s GeoUnion members. Both UNISDR & ISSC are co-sponsors. The creation of IRDR stemmed from the recognition that there is a need for interdisciplinary science to address the most pressing problems in the field.

Based on its track-record at the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, ICSU in 2014 was invited by Margareta Wahlström, head of UNISDR (now UNDRR), to coordinate and represent the science & technology community in preparations for the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Sendai, March 2015. This conference adopted a new global post-2015 agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction – to follow up on the 2005 Hyogo Framework for Action.

ICSU advocated for a strong science base for this framework, including at the two meetings of the conference’s Preparatory Committee, held on 14-15 July and 17-18 November 2014 in Geneva. The Sendai Framework, adopted at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, contains a strong recognition of the importance of science in the DRR field, and offers many avenues for the scientific community to help implement the framework in the coming years.

ISC is also working closely with IRDR and the wider scientific community to boost integrated science that responds to the priorities of the Sendai Framework and to support the uptake of science in the policy and practice communities. Examples of our activities include a strong presence at the 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (22-26 May 2017, Cancún) including through a series of policy briefs, identification of key areas for collaboration and knowledge gaps across the IRDR, Future Earth and WCRP programmes, partnership with the Science Council of Japan, UNISDR and others for the organization of a Global Forum on Science and Technology for Disaster Resilience 2017 in November 2017 in Japan.

In 2019, the ISC launched policy briefs ahead of the UN Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019) to provide key messages for policy-makers on disaster-loss data and the synergies between the major global agreements of the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.

In 2022, the ISC took part in the Seventh Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022). The ISC contribution to the GP2022 included a series of policy briefs providing key messages and recommendations aimed at policy- and decision-makers at different levels of governance, from local to global, on how to advance DRR and sustainable development by closing the science-practice gap at local levels; on adopting multi-hazard approaches to risk reduction based on the UNDRR/ISC hazard information profiles; and on using different domain data to enhance disaster management. At a side-event, the ISC made the case for the urgent need to close the gap between knowledge and action at local levels with the aim to improve disaster risk management. The ISC also elaborated on the prerequisite to address disaster vulnerability at global and regional levels during an Ignite Stage presentation.


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