Concept Note
5th Asian Ministerial Conference
on Disaster Risk Reduction
Yogyakarta, Republic of Indonesia
22–25 October 2012
organized by:
Government of the Republic of Indonesia
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
with support from
National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction – Indonesia
Yogyakarta Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
International and National Development Partners
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BACKGROUND
The Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) is a biennial
conference organized by rotation in different Asian countries since 2005. The event
represents a unique opportunity for Ministers in charge of disaster management
from the region to reaffirm their commitment to the implementation of the Hyogo
Framework for Action (HFA), a global blueprint for disaster risk reduction 2005-2015,
which was adopted by 168 UN Member States in the World Conference on Disaster
Reduction in Kobe, Japan in 2005. The conference also serves as a forum to
exchange experiences on successful practices and innovative approaches in
implementing HFA's five priorities for action at the national and local levels
The First AMCDRR was organized by the Government of China in Beijing in August
2005. It adopted the Beijing Action for Disaster Risk Reduction, a consensus to
promote the newly-adopted HFA and to seek Asia-Pacific Governments' commitment
and actions to implement disaster risk reduction, including through increased
collaboration and the strengthening of existing key regional cooperation
mechanisms.
The Second Conference was conducted in New Delhi, India in November 2007 and
gave birth to the Delhi Declaration. It reaffirmed the commitment of governments
in the region to HFA and agreed to expand further the biennial ministerial
conference as a Regional Platform with participation from national governments,
regional and sub-regional organizations, UN Agencies, and the civil society, scientific
and technical organizations, the private sector and the media. Delhi Declaration also
called for the enhancement of partnership in disaster risk reduction which include
innovative public-private partnership, participation of civil society in local, national
and regional level, as well as the involvement of the print and electronic media. As
a means of improving the coherence, synergy and effectiveness of disaster risk
reduction in the region, as well as enhancing information exchange and mapping of
regional disaster reduction initiatives of various stakeholders, the Second Conference
affirmed that the Asia and Pacific regional office of the UNISDR, within the
framework of expanded ISDR Asia Partnership, shall provide the technical,
operational and secretarial support to the Regional Platform.
The Third AMCDRR was convened by the Government of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur
in December 2008. Its overarching theme was "Multi-stakeholder Partnership for
Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia and Pacific region," with a particular focus on
Public Private Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction and community-based disaster
risk reduction. The conference adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration. Noting
the importance of undertaking community-based disaster risk reduction activities in
all communities at risk, the Third Conference called for the involvement and
empowerment of local governments and civil society. It encouraged the ongoing
efforts on building local capacity, the provision of effective national legal and policy
frameworks, financial and technical support to local authorities and community2
based organizations undertaking DRR activities, as well as enhancing multistakeholder partnership with local governments and communities to reduce climate
and disaster risk both in urban and rural areas.
The Fourth AMCDRR was held in Incheon, Korea between 25-28 October 2010. With
overarching theme of "Disaster Risk Reduction through Climate Change Adaptation,
the Conference produced the Incheon Declaration on DRR in Asia and the Pacific
2010, which includes Incheon Regional Roadmap on DRR through CCA in Asia and
the Pacific (REMAP) and Plan of Action REMAP. The Incheon Declaration reaffirmed
the commitment of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to implement HFA and make
DRR and CCA priorities in policy making, as well as synergize DRR and CCA in the
national, regional, and global levels. It encouraged DRR stakeholders to enhance
awareness and do more efforts to build capacity for DRR and CCA.
Towards the closing of the 4th AMCDRR, Indonesia expressed interest in hosting the
5thAMCDRR in 2012. As a country that has experienced numerous large-scale
disasters, Indonesia was considered as having had many experiences in disaster
management and disaster risk reduction. The occurrence of Aceh Tsunami in
December 2004 has become a wakeup call for the nation to strengthen its national
system for disaster management, including the implementation of disaster risk
reduction. Significant milestones on disaster risk reduction have been achieved and
acknowledgement on this regard has been marked with the Global Champion for
Disaster Risk Reduction award given by the United Nations to the President of the
Republic of Indonesia during the opening ceremony of the 3rd Session of Global
Platform for Disaster Reduction in May 2011 in Geneva.
Having experienced numerous calamities, Indonesia fully recognizes the importance
of strengthening disaster risk reduction efforts at the local level. In the past six
years, Indonesia has achieved significant milestones on DRR implementation at the
national level and now the country is committed to and encourages all relevant DRR
stakeholders to actively participate in accelerating DRR implementation at the local
level. It is, therefore, the intention of the Government of Indonesia to use
“Strengthening Local Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction” as the overarching theme
of the forthcoming 5th AMCDRR.
This chosen theme is in alignment with the theme promoted for the 3 rd Session of
the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction 2011, which underlines the importance of
greater investments in local DRR implementation for a safer future. Furthermore, it
is also supported by the evidence noted in the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the HFA
2005–2015, released in March 2011. The MTR indicates that progress in DRR is
occurring, especially institutionally in the passing of national legislation,
establishment of early warning systems, and strengthening of disaster preparedness
and response. However, it also raises some concerns and one of them is the
insufficient level of implementation of the HFA at the local level.
Building on past agreements and issues discussed in earlier conferences, particularly
in the 3rd and 4th AMCDRR, the 3rd Session of Global Platform for Disaster Risk
Reduction, as well as Indonesia’s own experiences that reaffirm the importance of
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enhancing DRR implementation at the local level as part of the strategic venue to
build nations and communities to disasters, Indonesia proposes the following subthemes for the forthcoming 5th AMCDRR:
1) Integrating Local Level Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change
Adaptation into National Development Planning
2) Local Risk Assessment and Financing
3) Strengthening Local Risk Governance and Partnership
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CONFERENCE
1.
Objectives
a. To encourage stronger political commitment and investment for local action
in disaster risk reduction
b. To build on the findings and recommendations of the Global Platform’s
Third Session which brought up the theme “Invest Today for A Safer
Tomorrow – Increase Investment in Local Action”.
c. To establish a practical and collaborative mechanism for building resilience
at the local level among countries in the Asia Pacific region.
d. To promote local knowledge and practices in DRR as a way of enhancing
local capacity in DRR
Expected outcomes:
a. Declaration of commitment with action plan and follow-up strategy to
enhance local capacity in disaster risk reduction
b. Regional partnership for strengthening local capacity
c. Technical and political recommendations on programs to empower local
capacity among countries in the region
2.
Structure
Structure and Selected Themes of the Event
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a.
Pre Conference
Pre-conference events will be organized for interested Governments,
Inter-governmental organizations, and/or governments’ partners to
conduct bilateral meetings and/or specific discussions of a sub-regional
nature to forge a common position from the sub-region that will feed into
the Ministerial Conference. Please submit the Registration Form by
31 August 2012
b.
Plenary
Plenary meetings will consist of High Level Round Tables, Technical
Sessions, Special Sessions and Side Events. Opening and closing
ceremonies will also be conducted in plenary. Both ceremonies will include
a keynote speech and statements from invited dignitaries.
c.
High Level Round Tables
High Level Round Tables (HLRT) will consist of Ministers in charge of
Disaster Management or Head of Delegation of Asia-Pacific member
countries who expressed interests in relevant HLRT’s topics. HLRT serves
as a forum for Ministers/Heads of Delegations to deliver their Ministerial
Statements. The appointed Chairperson of HLRT will function as facilitator
and highlight key concerns and recommendations raised during HLRT as
well as those from the Technical Sessions. HLRT are expected to come up
with policy recommendations that will be reflected in the Conference
Declaration.
d.
Technical Sessions (TS)
Technical sessions will be organized with technical experts and disaster
risk reduction practitioners to address the key technical challenges on
selected topics for discussion. A Chairperson will facilitate discussions and
highlight concerns and recommendations for action. The Chairperson will
convey the key recommendations to the High-Level Round Table on the
same subject for Ministers’ consideration and discussion. Thus, the
subjects of both Technical Sessions and High Level Round Tables will
align with the Conference sub-themes.
Proposed Topic for the High Level Round Tables and Technical Sessions
are in relevance to the three sub-themes of the Conference:
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1) Integrating Local Level Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate
Change Adaptation into National Development
Rationale
- Community-based disaster risk reduction initiatives are an
imperative for attempts to reduce risks and the damaging impacts
of disasters. While the ISDR’s campaign suggests that DRR is
everybody’s business, the party that has to deal with and bear the
consequence of disasters in the most direct way is the community.
Priority 3 of the Hyogo Framework for Action calls for “Developing
or strengthening community-based disaster risk management
programmes”. The 3rd AMCDRR in Kuala Lumpur encouraged,
among other things, the ongoing efforts on building local capacity,
the provision of effective national legal and policy frameworks,
financial and technical support to local authorities and communitybased organizations undertaking DRR activities.
-
In view of the above and the recognition that the knowledge and
practices of community-based DRR globally, and notably at the
Asian level, must have reached a maturity stage for sharing and
replicating, it is strongly proposed to utilize the powerful event of
AMCDRR 2012 to promote and deliberate on CBDRM.
-
More specifically, Yogyakarta being the venue of the AMCDRR 2012
is also a home for some CBDRM practices that the conference
participants can be directly exposed to for both learning and
sharing purposes.
-
Current issues: The scope of CBDRM
o Behind a seemingly shared CBDRM language, differing ways in
which organizations ‘do CBDRM’ is still observable.
o Local Practice are always unique and not easily replicable in
other areas.
o CBDRM needs to integrate with mainstream issues so that it
does not stay as an esoteric and isolated initiative applicable in
a certain community only.
o Guidelines from government are required.
- Current issues: Integrating/mainstreaming of CBDRM
o CBDRM is still facing challenges for escalating and integrating
with government policy and practice and methods to overcome
them (“Turning Practice into Policy”, Tearfund Report 2007).
o DRR is normally not included in the local government’s budget,
unlike relief and rehabilitation/reconstruction funds.
o Access to an existing development funding and planning
mechanism, in the case of Indonesia: Musrenbang, needs to be
created and facilitated for CBDRM to avail of and align with.
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o Civil society has limited or lack of influence at government level.
o The governments’ outreaching to and supporting the
communities/civil societies for community based disaster risk
reduction initiatives are crucial.
- Current issues: CCA - CBDRM
o Climate change is expected to cause more severe and more
frequent natural hazards. As our cities and coasts grow more
vulnerable, these hazards can lead to disasters that are far
worse than those we have seen to date. (Ban Ki Moon, UNSG, in
ISDR Publication on HFA 2005-2015).
o CCA in the context of DRR as started in the preceding AMCDRR
in Incheon, Korea needs to be elaborated and put in practice.
o Disaster risk assessment at the county and community level has
not incorporated climate change factor.
o There is a need for CCA fund not only that for CC Mitigation.
o Inclusion of CCA in the CBDRM would ensure continuity and
consistency on addressing this issue of CCA
o CBDRM also serves as a practical action of community
performing climate change adaptation
Description
CBDRM is a process of disaster risk management in which at risk
communities are actively engaged in the identification, analysis,
treatment, monitoring and evaluation of disaster risks in order to reduce
their vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities (ADPC, Field
Practitioners’ Handbook 2004). In the process, the community becomes a
major player and stakeholder, its members are the prime movers in
reducing disaster risks in their community whereby the local and national
governments are involved and supportive in addressing the root causes of
their vulnerability, and recognizing their fundamental right to decisions
that impact on their lives.
Questions (for further study/research)
- What would significantly distinguish urban CBDRM and rural
one?
- Has disaster risk assessment incorporated climate change
factors?
- Considering that local practices tend to be unique, what will be
the transferable elements of such practices for other localities?
- How CBDRM could avail of development funding scheme at the
national level?
- Is climate change global fund accessible for adaptation
initiatives, including CBDRM?
- How CBDRM could align with and make benefits of existing
development planning mechanism, which is Musrenbang in
Indonesian case?
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Expected Outcomes from the Sub-theme
The Indonesian Government, in consultation with other proponents of
DRR in the country, is of the opinion that the sub-theme shall deliberate
on the following subjects of legislation/regulation, planning, funding
scheme, partnership/networking, research/assessment, and local-national
relationship/arrangement that will nurture and enable CBDRM’s
integration with national development.
The foreseen key messages transpiring from the deliberation on the subtheme would include but not limited to: CBDRM funding by host countries
and donors, modality of future information sharing/cooperation among
participating countries, recommendations for on-going HFA and its
possible successor arrangement, commitment of governments for
promoting CBDRM in their respective countries.
The deliberation of the sub-theme is also expected to deliver the
following:
- Exchanges of experiences in successful CBDRM practices that
incorporate CCA and integrate into national development;
- List of criteria and principles on enabling and empowering
legislation/regulation, planning, funding scheme, partnership/
networking,
research/
assessment,
and
local-national
relationship/arrangement for impactful CBDRM;
- Asian level agenda to make 100,000 villages across Asia disaster
resilient (see Sub-theme 2 expected outcome)
2) Local Risk Assessment and Financing
Rationale:
- Risk identification through risk assessment and Risk Financing are two
of the five pillars of Disaster Risk Management
- Risk assessment at the local level is key to understand risk
distributions; to formulate policy, strategy, and plan for mitigation
- Risk financing at the local level is generally underdeveloped. But, since
local governments and communities typically bear the cost of disasters,
promoting different risk financing options for local communities and
governments through risk pooling and transfer becomes very important
DRM measures.
- Current issues – Risk Assessment
o The scale/level of risk assessment determines the different
types and details of data needed. Determining the scope of the
analysis is critical and not always easy.
o Methodology for conducting risk assessment have been well
developed, but local application require consistent guidelines to
ensure comparability between localities
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-
o Limitation in data availability (especially on hazards) requires
that various data sources combined with field surveys should be
carried out
o At the village level data limitation is less of a problem since
raising awareness of risks and concrete and practical actions can
still be done even with limited data
o At the district level and up, data and method for risk assessment
require more formal and credible guidelines/standards since the
resulted risk assessment (map) will be used as the basis for
policy, planning and technical regulations.
o Involvement of universities and consulting industry in
harmonizing the risk assessment approach is critical to
supporting local governments and community who often lack
expertise to carry out the assessment by themselves.
Current issues – Risk Financing
• The financial impacts of disaster to the local community and
governments are always high relative to local economy, the
main impacts being damage of assets and interruption of
economic activities,
• Most of financial risks are retained by the locals with only few
cases of systematic risk transfers,
• There has been long-tradition of community reserve in
food/agricultural harvest, but they have not been broadened to
cover disaster which may disrupt local supplies (e.g., through
pooling of resources with other localities).
Description:
Local risk assessment serves two different groups of user, namely at the
community/village level, and at the district/city or provincial levels. The
use of risk information is generally the same; that is development
decisions that take risks and risk mitigation into consideration. However,
there is a major difference between the use of risk assessment at the
village level, which is basically to prioritize community actions and the use
of the assessment at the district level and above, which is more for formal
planning and zoning regulation.
Risk Financing (RF) is a process to determine the strategy to achieve the
optimal balance between retaining and transferring risk within an entity.
At the community or local government level, because of its small economic
scale, risk pooling and transfer become very important.
Questions (for further study/research):
- Is there any success story of local/district level risk assessment that
was carried out cost effectively
- How can data gap for high resolution local risk assessment be
addressed
- How can local government and community used risk information to
influence development decisions to improve their resilience
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-
Is there any experiences in successfully implementing local risk
financing strategy
What has been the experience of insuring public assets in Bali and
West Sumatra provinces as well as in provinces in other Asian
countries
How successful been risk pooling be implemented at the local level,
and can it be sustainable
Expected Outcomes from the Sub-theme
- Exchange of experiences in successful village level risk assessment and
resilience
- Asian level agenda to make 100,000 villages across Asia disaster
resilient
- Compilation of methodologies to carry out cost-effective and high
resolution local (district level) risk assessment
- Exchange of experiences in local disaster risk financing and pooling
- Discovery of local risk financing model that can be applied in Asia
3) Strengthening Local Risk Governance and Partnership
The implementation of disaster risk reduction requires strong local risk
governance and partnerships of multi-stakeholders. As mentioned earlier,
DRR is indeed everybody’s business and this needs to be synergized in a
concerted manner. Various lessons learned repeatedly highlights the
importance of coherence and participative coordination for becoming
better in this business of saving lives. Consequently, to be able to
coordinate such participation, local risk governance needs to be
strengthened. As proposed in the Mid Term Review of HFA, a multistakeholder consultative mechanism, including community participation
should exist (UNISDR 2011).
The mid-term review of HFA (UNISDR 2011) identified some areas of
concerns for HFA implementation at the local level. Two noted concerns
are the lack of institutionalization at the local level and the
compartmentalization of sectors. Rather than making DRR cross-cutting
issues and part of longer term development plan, DRR is often treated as
an isolated issue. The integration of DRR in a longer term development
plan, policy and budgeting at the local level is vital.
While strengthening local risk governance and partnership is arguably
important, the question needs to be asked is ‘How’. The 5 th AMCDRR
event provides a good venue where different countries in Asia can share
and learn about the ‘How’. While learning from our DRR fellow
practitioners from different nations and backgrounds, we would like to
propose some ideas for discussions. The first to redefine ‘local
governance’, as different stakeholder groups may have their own
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governance. For example the private sector has their own corporate
governance, and so does the civil society as well as the government.
In creating a true partnership, accountability then should not only be
defined as upwards but also downwards; not only vertical but also
horizontal. Believing in respect for others, partnership needs to be built
and in the business of disaster risk reduction we mean to save lives by
doing so.
Regarding strengthening local risk governence and partnership, Indonesia
has some potentials such as, human resources and provinces/district that
have a capacity in disaster management, ranging from risk analysis,
implementation, and monitoring evaluation. Indonesia also has a systems
and mechanism that have been used jointly by multi-stakeholders i.e
disaster management as well as capacity development systems. The
system is constantly developed according to the local needs and areas’
characteristic. The leadership that cares on disaster issues, DRR forums,
as well as directory of DRR stakeholders also mark an advance in efforts
to strenghtening local risk governance and partnership. Nevertheless,
there are some improvements to be done particularly in the sector of
building awareness and understanding of integrated disaster management
system between government, non-government organization and private
sector. There are areas that need to increase the capacity, use of standard
of competency and application of technology for DM. Mainstreaming of DM
in various sectors is also a challenge in this sub-theme.
In 2008, the Government of Indonesia together with the non-government
organisation and the private sectors has established the National Platform
which is expected to coordinate the three main sectors in Indonesia,
particularly in DRR. Some regional areas have also developed regional
platforms for DRR that aim to synergize the roles and functions of
Government and other community elements in DRR. The function of
coordination, synergy and participation of these elements incorporated
into the National Platform and regional Platform will be pursued to the
maximum so that it can be applied to the policy as outlined in the NAP
DRR and DM PLAN. To date, Indonesia has 362 BPBDs (local disaster
management bodies) at district/municipality level and 33 BPBDs at
provincial level. Beside national Platform, Indonesia also has many local
DRR forum, study center of DM in universities, and many initiatives from
school, faith based organisation and other communities. These
opportunities are supported by policies and budget allocation as well as
other sources.
Proposed Questions to be further discussed and explored in 2nd
IAP meeting September 2011):
- What are emerging concerns and challenges in ensuring effective local
risk governance in your respective country?
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-
Recommend 3 most urgent priorities of actions and its conditioning
requirements to strengthen local risk governance in your respective
country in various levels (national, provincial, district and local)
Identify priorities/plan which can be done jointly in various level: local,
national, regional for strengthening local risk governance
Changing/sharing experiences of actions/implemented strategies which
can be done jointly in various levels: local, national, regional for
strengthening the local risk governance
Expected Outcomes from the Sub-theme
- Identified concerns and challenges in ensuring effective local risk
governance in respective country
- Agreed recommendations of relevant actions of individual/solitaire
program and possible joint actions intra and extra country
- Pool of experiences of best and bad practices in strengthening local
risk governance.
e.
Side Events
Side Events will feature presentations that support the sub-themes in the
form of best practices and lessons learned from different countries or
organizations in implementing disaster risk reduction at the local level. It
aims to facilitate exchange of information and knowledge from all
participants, with a purpose to identify DRR activities and initiatives that
are related to the conference theme that will become common learning
for all participants.
f.
DRR Market Place
DRR market place will be organized for government, UN Agencies,
international and national NGOs, the media, private sector, local
communities, local authorities, and other interested stakeholders, to
introduce models of local capacity, achievements and initiatives in locallevel disaster risk reduction. The committee provides 23 booths free of
charge. For registration and further information, please contact the
Conference Secretariat.
The main theme for DRR Market Place is “Living in Harmony with Disaster
through Coordination in National and Sub-National Level”, exhibitors are
encouraged to promote best practices in local wisdom, local initiatives,
local multi-stakeholder partnership.
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g.
Field and Cultural Visits
Field trip will be organized to areas affected by Merapi Volcano eruption
2010. Participants will have a chance to interact with community member
and observe post-disaster recovery efforts. A cultural visit will be
conducted to UNESCO World Heritage Site, Prambanan Temple, located
about 30 kilometers from Merapi Volcano.
h.
DRR Film Festival And Media Training
Films are a powerful media that may create conversation, reveal truths,
and inspire people and building awareness. Recognizing the potential
impacts of films as an instrument for social change, the Committee of the
5th AMCDRR 2012 plans to organize an Asian Film Festival (AFIFES) on
the Asian/Pacific Region. With theme “Strengthening Local Capacity for
Disaster Risk Reduction”, the film festival aims at building awareness of
the importance of resilience to disaster at the lowest level of the
community, amidst the growing challenges of disaster and climate change
risks in the region.
Media is a vital element in the promotion of DRR. As such, media workers
need to be enhanced with knowledge about disaster issues. The 5 th
AMCDRR may provide a good opportunity for capacity building of media
workers, since many journalists from the Asia-Pacific region will be
attending the event. A media training program has been scheduled for
interested journalists, in which journalists may share lessons learned and
good practices in raising awareness about DRR. Through this training, it is
expected that media people may also contribute their perspectives and
insights to DRR policies and strategies formulated by the conference.
i.
Consultation Mechanism
Consultation towards the preparation of the AMCDRR with a wide range of
regional stakeholders will be carried out during the course of the year.
The main forums for consultation will be:
a) the ISDR Asia partnership
b) an executive committee that will be set up with representation of
regional and national organizations (the same will exist to followc)
up on implementation of the outcomes post-conference)
a donor support group that will be set-up with representation of
key bilateral and multilateral donors. Detailed terms of reference
for both the executive committee and the donor support group
will be developed and consulted in due course.
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2.
Venue
The 5th AMCDRR will be held in Yogyakarta, the Republic of Indonesia,
between 22-25 October 2012
The meeting venue is as follows:
JOGJAKARTA EXPO CENTRE (JEC)
Address : Jalan Raya Janti, Yogyakarta - Indonesia
Phone
: +62 274 451001
Fax
: +62 274 451020
Email
: info@jogjaexpocenter.com
Website : www.jogjaexpocenter.com
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