Negotiators attending a major UN conference on disaster reduction have agreed on a ten-year plan to build the resilience of countries and communities to disasters.

They also adopted a statement on the recent Indian Ocean tsunami aimed at reducing the risks of such disasters in future.
The UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR), which was held from 18-22 January 2005, in Kobe, Japan, took place just weeks after an earthquake-tsunami in the Indian Ocean led to the deaths of over 200,000 people and the loss of livelihoods of millions living in the region. The conference also coincided with the tenth anniversary of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which took over 6,000 lives in Kobe.
The aim of the conference was to increase the international profile of disaster risk reduction, promote its integration into development planning and practice, and strengthen local and national capacities to address the causes of disasters that hamper development in many countries.
During the meeting, disagreements surfaced over the link between disasters and climate change. The U.S. and some of its allies questioned climate change as the major contributing factor to the increasing number of natural calamities across the globe, while other delegates, particularly those from the EU and the small island developing States, insisted on the important causal link between increasing hazards and climate change. The dispute was eventually resolved when an eleventh hour deal was struck acknowledging both climate change and variability in the outcome of the meeting.
By the end of the conference, two outcome documents had been successfully negotiated: one entitled “Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters: Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015,” and the Hyogo Declaration. Delegates also took note of the “Review of the 1994 Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World and its Plan of Action” and adopted a “Common statement on the Special Session on the Indian Ocean Disaster: Risk Reduction for a Safer Future.”
With the meeting coming in the wake of one of the most devastating disasters in a century, the general perception among observers and experts seems to be that participants were able to address the urgent needs of the disaster’s aftermath effectively, while also maintaining a strong focus on the long-term goal of reducing disaster risk and vulnerability. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin report.