World Conference on Disaster Reduction

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in Kobe Japan 18-22 January 2005. The conference was attended by more than 4,000 official delegates (including 168 delegations) representing national governments, inter-governmental organisations and associations, and non-government organisations. This was almost twice as many as had been originally expected to actively participate. The Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy of December 26, 2004, raised both the profile and the level of government participation in the meeting.

The conference was planned several years ago, following the end of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) and intensive planning has continued over the past 3 years. The aim of the conference was to develop an internationally agreed and cooperative framework for action to facilitate effective disaster mitigation activities 2005-2015.

The conference outcomes were universally deemed to have been very successful. The original program that included a public forum and a series of five special thematic cluster sessions was expanded to incorporate a special session on the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster to address Indian Ocean tsunami risk and to initiate the development of a process for establishing an effective cooperative early warning system.

The conference adopted a resolution to be known as the "Hyogo Framework for Action: 2005-2015", recommending, among other things, that a "culture of disaster prevention and resilience" must be fostered at all levels. It also recognized and reiterated the relationship between disaster reduction, sustainable development and poverty reduction. In the closing statement it was stated that "Kobe will make a real difference to the way we look at hazards, at risks and vulnerability, and that we all truly engage on the road for a safer world". The agreed framework for action represents a substantive set of objectives aimed at strengthening the capacity of disaster-prone countries to address risk and invest heavily in disaster preparedness and to ensure that the world reduces risk and vulnerabilities to natural hazards in the next ten years.

Bureau Of Meteorology Contribution

The Bureau Of Meteorology's primary contributions to the conference were:

• To work with other members of the Australian Government delegation on the development of the conference outcomes document and final political statement (both prior to and during WCDR)
• To present a keynote presentation in the Thematic Sessions Cluster 2 - Risk Communication. On behalf of the RANET steering committee, Linda Anderson-Berry provided an overview of RANET as a cooperative effort of various national, regional, and international partners who seek to make weather and related environmental information more accessible and useful to rural and resource poor populations in order to aid day-to-day resource decisions and prepare against natural hazards
• To provide a presentation and participate as a panellist in the same thematic session. Linda Anderson-Berry had been asked to provide an Australian Government perspective/approach to risk communication. She gave a brief overview of current Australian government efforts. She emphasised that the Australian government is committed to managing natural hazard risk and is pursuing a nationally consistent, multi-level, multi-agency, cooperative approach to addressing and communicating risk. And that it is committed to communicating all levels of hazard warning, at the various time scales, in the context of a total warnings system approach.
• To support the Australian Government delegation in the Public Forum and the Special Indian Ocean Tsunami Session

Outcomes of the WCDR

The following four documents are the main outcome of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. They represent a strong commitment of the international community to address disaster reduction and to engage in a determined, results-oriented plan of action for the next decade.

Review of the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for a Safer World PDF
Hyogo Declaration PDF
Hyogo Framework of Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters PDF
Common Statement of the Special Session on the Indian Ocean Disaster: risk reduction for a safer future PDF

Go to the WCDR Website