WORKING SESSION
Reducing Disaster Risk to Alleviate Poverty
Brief & Concept Note
Brief
1. Why is this topic important?
Disasters have a disproportionate effect on the poor. Between 1975-2000, the poor
comprised 68% of mortalities from disasters. By 2030, up to 325 million of the world’s
poor could be living in the 49 most hazard-prone countries. Placing disaster risk reduction
at the center of assertive, risk-centered post-2015 sustainable development planning
would prove a major step in global, national and local efforts to alleviate poverty.
2. What gaps need to be filled?
Disasters are felt most often, hardest and deepest, by those countries, communities and
individuals that can least cope. Evidence suggests there is an urgent need for both
strategic and practical steps to address the relationship between poverty and disaster, at
global, national and local levels. This is important for balanced development between
the urban and rural poor. Increasingly, exposure to risk grows daily in both urban and
rural contexts. Addressing these important issues of exposure and accumulated risk,
speaks to one of the weakest areas of HFA implementation, underlying risk factors.
3. What (new) commitments are expected to be achieved?
Decision-makers ensure that all investments in poverty reduction are informed by an
analysis of disaster risk, and all investments in disaster risk, are informed by
considerations of poverty and vulnerability.
Ensure the SDGs include a strongly articulated relationship between poverty, disaster
and other shocks. In this context, decision makers will recognize that the post-2015
agenda’s overarching aim to eradicate global poverty must be supported by
implementable and enforceable policies and regulations that not only reduce existing
risk but also avoid the creation of new risk which can trap people in cycles of
impoverishment, thus contributing to chronic social and economic inequality and
vulnerability.
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Concept Note
Schedule
Sunday 15 March 2015, 16:00-17:30
Room and Venue
Main Hall, Sendai International Conference Centre
Organizing Team
UNISDR, UNDP, UNICEF, UNHabitat, and Huairou/Groots
International, with inputs from select member states and the
private sector.
UNISDR Focal Point
Sharon Rusu, UNISDR Africa - sharon.rusu@unisdr.unon.org
Background and
Rationale
Poor communities, and especially the most vulnerable, including
women, children and those with disabilities, are at a high risk from
disasters. They often lack access to basic social services, to
information on risk, or have little voice in planning evacuation,
assistance and social safety nets.
Apart from poverty, rapid population growth, settlement in
exposed high risk areas, especially in urban centers, overexploitation of natural resources and encroachment on vital
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have led to the accumulation of
risk. The cumulative effects of these conditions mean that when a
disaster occurs, it has multiple impacts: loss of lives, livelihoods,
homes, education, malnutrition and disease.
Unsurprisingly, the evidence highlights descending spirals from
poverty to disaster to further entrenched poverty. This is relevant
for slow-onset as well as for sudden impact disasters. In Haiti,
between 2001 and 2010, the poverty levels fell by 8%; but after the
2010 earthquake, poverty levels retreated to 2001 levels.
The urban poor population is of particular concern. There are now
some 1 billion people living in informal settlements. By 2020,
nearly 1.5 billion people in the developing world will live in slums.
Current urban development patterns are contributing to slum
growth and inequitable standards of living through socially and
economically segregated urban spaces and sprawl. Such conditions
can contribute to the proliferation of other shocks and stresses,
such as crime, high youth unemployment, and political instability,
all of which exacerbate vulnerabilities and social tensions, causing
a vicious cycle of risk generation.
The twin challenges of unsustainable development patterns and
changing patterns of risk are exacerbated by the significant gap in
funding between emergency response and risk reduction.
The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) called for the integration of
disaster risk reduction into national plans and programmes
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including the incorporation of disaster risk reduction into national
poverty reduction strategies. Despite the gains of the HFA, little has
been achieved in eradicating poverty and hunger in line with the
first Millennium Development Goal. The priority area of the HFA
most directly connected to addressing vulnerability and poverty –
underlying risk factors – has been one of the weakest in terms of
implementation.
Despite these challenges, there is a wealth of knowledge and
experience on how to break negative cycles posed by increased
hazards, exposure and poverty. Water and environmental
management emerge as a very prominent link between disaster
risk reduction and poverty reduction. Other examples include
drought risk reduction initiatives and the role of education in
establishing a culture of safety and resilience. The best examples
are where governments and organized community practitioners
have adopted integrated approaches directly linking disaster risk
reduction to sustainable development. By doing this they have
managed to mainstream disaster risk reduction into local and
national development planning and practice. This includes
integration into key social services such as self-organized
communities, basic infrastructure, land usage, health, education
and water. Even better results, according to a recent ODI study,
occur when governments invest in local communities,
entrepreneurs and innovation. There is also good news on
development in the health and education sectors; namely progress
on safe schools and on climate risk and public health.
The successor to the HFA has the challenge, obligation and
opportunity to provide a vision for the relationship between
poverty and disaster risk reduction, one that at global, national and
local levels ensures a focus on breaking the cycle of disasters and
poverty, utilising the catalyst of disaster risk reduction to promote
equity and equality. Above all else, the new framework has the
opportunity to celebrate how the poor can and are powerful agents
of change.
Session Objectives
The sessions objectives will be to examine the relationship of
poverty and disaster risk through four themes:
 Global
frameworks
and
poverty
reduction:
DRR/SDGs/climate
 Risk reduction and poverty at country level
 Reducing poverty through risk-centered community
planning, especially urban areas
 Disaster risk, poverty and private sector investment
Discussion agenda and
structure
The structure of this meeting will consist of opening remarks,
followed by panelists briefly examining four segments: global,
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(90 minutes)
country, and community level linkages between disasters and
poverty. A fourth segment will feature private sector approaches
to the topic. The session will close with a sum-up by the moderator
and request for the participants to approve recommendations to
contribute to the post-2015 framework for DRR.
Session at a glance
Opening Remarks
Setting the Scene – Facts and Figures: How Disasters Impact Poverty
Segment 1:
Global
frameworks
and poverty
reduction:
DRR/
SDGs/climate
Segment 2:
Risk
reduction
and poverty
at country
level
Segment 3:
Reducing
poverty
through riskcentered
community
planning,
especially
urban areas
Segment 4:
Disaster risk,
poverty and
private
sector
investment
Announcement of Recommendations and Closing





Opening remarks (5 minutes)
Panel discussion (40 minutes)
Closing remarks (video)
Q & A (25 minutes)
Wrap-up and request for approval of recommendations by
moderator (10 minutes)
Each panellist will be invited to deliver a short statement (5
minutes per panellists) on one of the below thematic segments
focusing on examples of successful DRR interventions,
challenges and key lessons learned.

Segment 1: Global frameworks and poverty reduction:
DRR/SDGs/climate: Discuss the importance of addressing
poverty and disaster risk reduction together through
assertive political and social action that is risk-centered.
Highlight the need for effective coordination between the
post-2015 development agenda, the climate change
agenda, and the post-2015 framework on DRR.
Discussion guiding questions:
 How can the underlying risk factors, such as poverty, social
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

inequalities and rapid population growth be addressed in
an integrated way at the global level?
How can the global post-2015 agendas be coordinated
effectively to reduce vulnerability to disasters?
Segment 2: Risk reduction and poverty at country level:
What does an integrated approach at country level look
like? Discuss the importance of mainstreaming both DRR
and poverty reduction into sectoral and cross-sectoral
policy and planning frameworks and programming at
national level (using examples from poverty reduction and
DRR).
Discussion guiding questions:
 How have national DRR initiatives helped to reduce
poverty?
 How can the post-2015 framework benefit from challenges
and lessons learned from the 10 years of HFA
implementation?

Segment 3: Reducing poverty through risk-centered
community planning, especially in urban areas: Explore and
discuss the role of poverty as both a consequence and a
key risk factor that drives vulnerability at community level.
Extract key lessons and recommendations as to how riskcentered community planning can contribute to poverty
reduction and to building resilient communities.
Discussion guiding questions:
 How can poverty alleviation and DRR be integrated in an
effective manner to support communities’ ability to deal
with shocks and stressors?
 What examples of community initiatives illustrate the
effectiveness of local action in building resilience?

Segment 4: Disaster risk, poverty and private sector
investment: Lessons learned and recommendations for
private sector engagement.
Discussion guiding questions:
 How can the private sector better invest in the reduction of
disaster risk and poverty?
Expected outcomes
1. Aligned to commitments in the post-2105 framework,
participants recommend a coordinated action plan by
development partners to apply disaster risk reduction and
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resilience building tools in 10 cities in Africa and 10 in Asia that
are facing chronic poverty and extreme events.
2. Participants recommend that the financing of sustainable
development supports national integrated cross-sectoral
approaches that clearly reduce underlying risk factors with
poverty alleviation.
Commitment / special
announcement in
support of a post-2015
framework for DRR
To be confirmed
Expected number of
participants
200
Background
documents
-
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