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Asia-Pacific Action Plan 2021-2024 for Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 As of the drafting date, the Action Plan 2021-2024 has been sourced from the following: 1. Review of Action Plan 2018-2021 (desk-based analysis and key informant interviews with governments and stakeholders). 2. Outcomes of the 2019 and 2020 Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction (APP-DRR) Forum including the consultations. 3. Review of relevant documents and publications during 2019-2021 Contents 1. Overview ............................................................................................................................. 2 2. The compounding and cascading disaster risk challenge ..................................................... 3 3. Transforming and accelerating action ................................................................................. 4 4. Priorities for Action............................................................................................................. 6 Priority 1: Understanding Disaster Risk ................................................................................. 6 Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk ............................ 8 Priority 3: Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience ................................................. 10 Priority 4: Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction .......................................................... 11 5. Monitoring and Review ..................................................................................................... 13 1 1. Overview Three and a half years ago the national governments of the Asia Pacific region and partners, agreed a headline message: Preventing disaster risk protects sustainable development. A two- year Action Plan for Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted. It addressed how the ongoing global emergency of climate change is increasing the cascading and compounding nature of disaster risk. It called for several actions, mainly focused on the need to strengthen the integrated nature of risk governance to protect development gains. The period since that commitment was made at the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, in July 2018, has validated how the disaster risk reduction agenda is integral to sustainable development and for achieving the SDGs. It has again shown how risk is systemic and needs to be addressed via a coherent and systemic approach across agendas, sectors, institutions, and borders. As the review of progress against the Action Plan began ahead of the planned Asia Pacific Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Brisbane (APMCDRR), Australia, in June 2020, the climate change crisis was compounded by another global disaster: the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic prompted the postponement of the Brisbane conference. Extensive consultations, however, continued to review and update the Action Plan taking account of experience both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. These consultations included a much stronger engagement with Pacific small island developing states (SIDS). In the meantime, national governments and their partners have continued to use the 2018-2020 Action Plan agreed in Mongolia to guide national and local priorities of action to strengthen disaster resilience. In practice, the plan has extended beyond its original timeline but has continued to serve its purpose despite the above challenges. 2 2. The compounding and cascading disaster risk challenge Attention across the region and indeed the world over the past almost two years understandably has been focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic, however, was not the only disaster of the past 18 months. Several countries in Asia-Pacific had to deal with multiple disasters, including droughts, floods, and typhoons, while managing the pandemic at the same time. Both COVID-19 and other disasters – mainly climate-related natural hazards – highlighted how the same disaster very much affects different people differently. Indeed, people’s experiences of disasters varied significantly, with women and girls, people with disabilities, migrants, those in the informal economy and other marginalised groups particularly impacted. As COVID-19 ravaged the region with colossal direct and indirect impacts, the number of climate-related disasters continued to challenge national and local governments, economies and communities. While 2020 will very much be remembered for COVID-19, it was also the 2nd warmest year on record. Climate-related disasters continued to intensify and becoming more frequent, especially floods and storms. The rise in extreme weather events stretched Governments – including national disaster management agencies – to the limit. According to EM-DAT (The International Disaster Database) Asia Pacific experienced 41% of all disaster events in 2020. The region accounted for 64% of the total number of people affected. India (19.6 million) and China (14.9 million) suffered the largest human impacts from floods, storms, and other events. Indonesia had the highest number of disasters: 29 events including 25 floods. In South Asia, monsoon flooding, often associated with landslides, affected 5.4 million people in Bangladesh and caused 448 deaths in Nepal. In India, flooding was responsible for the 3rd deadliest event of the year costing 1,922 lives. China also experienced four summer floods that killed 397 people, affected 14.3 million people, and caused US$ 21.8 billion in economic losses. In terms of storms, Asia Pacific accounted for the highest number of people affected in 2020. In May, Cyclone Amphan struck South Asia affecting 18 million people in India and 2.6 million people in Bangladesh. In the latter part of the year, a series of storms in South-East Asia caused widespread damage. In Vietnam, six successive storms, combined with flooding and landslides over three months, killed 294 people and affected 2.2 million people. In Philippines, five storms over the same period killed 185 people and affected 9.2 million people. Repeated storms in the same areas provided little respite for those affected. The Pacific region was the first to experience the compounded impacts of a pandemic and climate-related disasters. In April 2020, Tropical Cyclone Harold left a trail of destruction as it swept through Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Tonga. Before the region could fully recover, Tropical Cyclone Yasa wrought havoc 8 months later, in December 2020. The fact that there is no vaccine against climate change makes an even stronger case for greater investment in disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change, especially for developing countries. 3 3. Transforming and accelerating action More than six years of implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015- 2030 has achieved positive results in Asia Pacific. Capacities to manage disasters have increased through strengthened preparedness and response efforts. As a result, globally, comparing the period 2005–2015 with 2009–2019, the number of dead and missing persons in the event of a disaster per 100,000 people (global target A) has fallen from 1.802 to 1.039. The number of persons affected by disasters per 100,000 people (global target B) has fallen from 1,674.9 to 1,380.1. Underpinning this achievement has been progress on a better understanding or risk; a stronger approach to risk governance (including in terms of integration and inclusion); more and smarter investment on disaster resilience; and better preparedness and response, particularly in terms of early warning/ early action. Yet, challenges and gaps remain significant. COVID-19 – along with the ongoing Climate Emergency - has introduced another powerful risk dynamic. This is further driving up poverty and inequality; undermining health systems, food security and future opportunity because of the impact on schools and education. The Sustainable Development Goals are under immense pressure. Scaling up implementation of the Sendai Framework in the region has the potential to reverse – and ultimately reduce – these worrying trends. It will, in turn, bolster progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. International cooperation and capacity building in support of small island developing states (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDC), and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC), as well as other countries in special situations remains essential. The 2018-2020 Action Plan focused on the development of national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. There has been significant progress in this regard, although there is still a need to update or develop such plans as well as to scale up implementation. This in turn will also require the development of more local strategies that are both aligned and resourced. This new Action Plan 2021-2024 aims to accelerate Asia Pacific’s transformation to risk- informed development, in other words to move from crisis to greater resilience. Initial consultations with national governments and partners were in line with the three planned policy themes of the APMCDRR 2020 – Building Resilient: Investment and Recovery; Systems, Services and Infrastructure; and Communities. These consultations pinpointed the opportunity and need to: - Ensure that the recovery and Building Back Better from COVID-19 introduces the necessary adjustments to policy and investment, breaks institutional and sectoral silos, leverages on the synergies between climate and disaster risk reduction action and enhances disaster risk governance mechanisms to manage risk in a systemic way. - Embed disaster and climate risk management in core economic planning and investments harnessing appropriate technology and emerging innovation; - Increase investment in infrastructure and associated systems, supported by inclusive and accessible services, that are collectively robust enough to support sustainable development; 4 - Harvest the power of knowledge, science and technology to better under disaster risk and its drivers, in particular the drivers of socio and economic vulnerability to generate the necessary evidence to strengthen decision making and programmes implementation. - Harness the rapid urbanization across the region as a once-in-a-generation opening to build more resilient cities fit for the 21st century; - Strengthen resilience at the community level via better connections between evidence, planning, decision-making and communication. Such a people-centred, inclusive and accessible approach will require the leadership of women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children and youth. This new Action Plan 2021-2024 has added strategic relevance as it covers 2023, which is the year of the midterm review of the Sendai Framework, as mandated by the United Nations General Assembly. 5 4. Priorities for Action The Action Plan is structured reflecting the 4 priorities of the Sendai Framework, namely 1. Understanding disaster risk 2. Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk 3. Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience 4. Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to ‘build back better’ in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction The plan identifies actions needed at three levels: regional, national, and local. Priority 1: Understanding Disaster Risk A consistent focus across each level of Priority 1 is the need to strengthen the capture, management and application of risk data and information. This needs to happen at each level and between each level. Particularly important is to increase the understanding of how the same disaster impacts different people differently dependent on a number of variables. This will enable the more vulnerable populations to be prioritized for support, important in an era of increasing fiscal pressures. 1.1 Regional Actions a. Revisit risk assessment methodologies to consider the systemic and dynamic nature of existing and emerging climatic and disaster risks. The assessments should also consider the transboundary nature of disaster risks and solutions for disaster risk management and resilience. b. Promote data sharing among countries and across sectoral entities to ensure a holistic assessment and management of risk. Intergovernmental and regional organisations should play a key role in enabling this. c. Strengthen the regional data ecosystem to facilitate the collection and analysis of income, sex, age and disability disaggregated data (SADDD) and its application for disaster risk reduction planning and differential impact of disaster risk and how such a risk analysis can be used to better inform risk reduction strategies that are inclusive, accessible and promote gender equality. d. Strengthen the understanding of long-term climate projections and their implication on disaster risk, in particular for SIDS and coastal areas. 1.2 National Actions a. Adopt and implement legislation and regulatory mechanisms and strengthen capacity to collect, analyse, manage, apply and report disaster data that is disaggregated by income, sex, age and disability. 6 b. Strengthen linkages between National Management Offices (NDMOs) and National Statistics Offices (NSOs) to support collection and use of disaster-related data to support risk-informed development. c. Enhance the knowledge and capacity of policymakers to better understand the interdependencies between sectors that can contribute to vulnerability of communities to disasters and to adopt measures required to reduce and manage them by mainstreaming DRR through all-sectors. d. Update national risk profiles and disaster risk reduction status reports regularly to document changing risk dimensions and mechanisms to address them; promote public scrutiny and hold institutional debates, including by parliamentarians and other relevant officials, on progress reports of local and national strategies and plans for disaster risk reduction. e. Strengthen the collection and use of disaggregated data, including by streamlining national and local mechanisms to minimize loss of disaggregated data as community data is compiled from local to national levels in line with the CEDAW General Recommendation No.37.1 f. Develop public awareness and engagement in disaster risk reduction including through the national commemoration of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and World Tsunami Awareness Day. g. Apply Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) advancement, design and development of innovative, low-cost technologies and tools, as well as traditional and indigenous knowledge to complement science-based knowledge. 1.3 Local Actions a. Strengthen local leadership capacity building on the experience of various community, health and disaster management leaders in the COVID-19 pandemic b. Improve cities’ understanding of risk and enhance their commitment to local disaster risk reduction & resilience c. Strengthen local level disaster damage and loss data collection, including of baseline data and assessments to ensure it is informed by locals and customized to the local context, and as such are inclusive and impact-based,. d. Ensure disaster risk information, forecast and early warnings are informed by locals and customized to the local context accessible and as such are inclusive and impact- based. e. Make risk information and data publicly available in formats that are accessible and easily understood by everyone in the community and in vernacular languages, particularly through online databases, social media, electronic media such as radios, TV, and print media, keeping in mind the accessibility and literacy levels in vulnerable communities. 1 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) General Recommendation No. 37 on Gender- related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change; In particular Section V, A. on Assessment and Data collection. 7 f. Preserve and promote local, traditional and indigenous knowledge to complement science-based knowledge. Traditional and indigenous knowledge should be integrated into risk profiles and early warning systems. Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk A consistent focus across each level of Priority 2 is the need to strengthen the integrated nature of risk governance to embrace a wider scope of hazard, in particular related to climate and health risk. In addition, these governance mechanisms need to be more connected: across government; between different institutional and policy/ legislative mechanisms; with and among local communities; between national and local levels; and linking up to commitments at the regional (and global) level. The inclusion of currently under-engaged populations, such as women, youth and people living with a disability, represents a huge opportunity to strengthen the effectiveness of managing risk at – and between – each level. 2.1 Regional Actions a. Provide country and sector-specific technical assistance to ensure complementarity between various actors for implementation, enhancement, and financing of Nationally Determined Contributions and strengthening their linkages with National Adaptation Plans and disaster risk reduction strategies. b. Strengthen regional level tracking mechanisms to monitor progress of local level disaster risk reduction implementation. c. Support implementation of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific: An Integrated Approach to Address Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management via the leaders’ mandated Pacific Resilience Partnership. d. Promote diversity in leadership, including supporting women’s leadership, as an enabler of inclusive resilience building and expand the Women’s International Network on Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) as a mechanism for co-sharing and capacity development. e. Promote implementation of health aspects of the Sendai Framework, including through re-emphasising the Bangkok Principles, with a view to ensuring more systematic cooperation, coherence and integration between disaster risk management and health sector, and management of biological hazards including pandemics. f. Enhance transdisciplinary engagement, between scientists, policy-makers, civil society and businesses at all levels, to strengthen science-based decision making, the consideration of future risk, and promotion of local and traditional knowledge. 2.2 National Actions 8 a. Promote coherent planning and implementation of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, including through enhancing the linkages between national development plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, Voluntary National Reviews, disaster risk reduction strategies and National Adaptation Plans. b. Strengthen national-local linkages on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation planning processes and institutional mechanisms, including the horizontal and vertical collaboration between ministries and authorities responsible for disaster risk management and local and urban development. c. Expand and strengthen national coordination platforms and related mechanisms to include planning and finance entities as well as stronger representation from the local level d. Review and enhance legal instruments and institutional mechanisms to ensure risk- informed development, including through clarifying roles and responsibilities of sectoral entities in managing risk. e. Promote diversity in leadership and decision-makers including increasing representation of women and persons with disabilities in professional services through incentives, affirmative recruitment policies and an enabling working environment. f. Review disaster risk reduction strategies, policies and legislations for better integration of biological hazards, including through integration of Bangkok Principles; and incorporate realities and the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. g. Integrate prevention of displacement as a key element of disaster risk reduction strategies and relevant sectoral strategies; and bridge existing data gaps on the issue h. Implement disaster risk reduction actions that promote gender equality and protect human rights, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 recovery; including through the implementation of the Ha Noi Recommendations for Action on gender and disaster risk reduction. i. Increase prevention of gender-based violence via greater inclusion and prioritization in national and local disaster risk reduction plans and strategies. 2.3 Local Actions a. Develop and build capacity to implement local and community-based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation plans. b. Finance local, community, and women-led organisations to reduce local disaster risk and build their resilience. c. Accelerate the implementation of Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR-2030) as a mechanism to enhance the advocacy, planning and financing of local resilience. d. Strengthen the implementation of Comprehensive School Safety Framework (CSSF) and enhance linkages and collaboration between schools and local authorities to better integrate school safety into local disaster risk reduction strategies. e. Promote a systemic approach for urban disaster risk management combining social, physical, environmental and economic aspects, including land-use planning with focus on urban and peri-urban areas. 9 Priority 3: Investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience Significant investment will be mobilised over the coming years to recover and bounce forward from COVID-19. Risk-proofing current and future investments requires a coherent approach across all levels. It also needs good access to partnership and finance to support such approaches. This applies to both the public and private sectors respectively. Strengthening the partnership between both sectors is vital. This will generate the necessary innovation and maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of investment. 3.1 Regional Actions a. Promote and test robust predictive models to scale up anticipatory actions and financing. b. Increase investment in knowledge, education, research, innovation, technology transfers and the empowerment of youths and young professionals, to advance multi- disciplinary disaster risk reduction and resilience. c. Analyse and assess the impact of disasters on those Least Developed Countries graduating towards Mid-Income Country status and recommend relevant risk management and resilience building actions. d. Enhance engagement with Central Banks to promote integration of climate and disaster risk into financial stability, including through progressive steps towards risk disclosure. e. Develop, disseminate and apply standards and guidelines for inclusive, and climate and disaster resilient infrastructure. f. Strengthen collaboration between development partners, regional organizations and business networks to establish social security and safety nets to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), different livelihood groups, and communities in urban and rural settings 3.2 National Actions a. Strengthen engagement with ministries of planning and finance, and multilateral financing institutions in planning for risk-informed development and humanitarian financing. b. Encourage the integrated financing of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation actions, including through enhancing the access to climate financing mechanisms. National governments and multi-lateral development banks should play a key role to optimize available resources for more coherent implementation. c. Promote the development of integrated national financing frameworks (INFF) that integrate prevention and reduction of risks for sustainable development. d. Facilitate an enabling environment for layered and blended financing to manage disaster risk. e. Strengthen and reconfigure public financing mechanisms, including through budget- coding and investment-tracking, to enable multi-sector disaster risk reduction. 10 f. Ensure that infrastructure services are accessible, inclusive and resilient, contributing to resilient communities. g. Encourage public-private partnerships and business-to-business collaboration for risk- informed investments and green financing. h. Facilitate, including through regulatory measures, the formalisation of the informal economy to enhance social and economic assistance to all sections of the society and the resilience of micro and small enterprises. i. Scale-up forecast-based financing and anticipatory actions, including through shock- responsive social protection, risk-informed micro-credit initiatives and insurance. Governments should strengthen measures for universalisation of social protection and ensure inclusion of all marginalised communities. j. Integrate nature-based solutions, including grey, blue, and green infrastructure, into investing in new and replacement of ageing infrastructure. k. Promote decentralized decision-making for risk-informed local-level investments. l. Encourage digitization of the economy to allow for resources, both in the context of disaster-responsive social protection and in humanitarian action, to facilitate their transfer between suppliers and consumers, and from development partners to communities in need. m. Promote a green pathway to economic resilience of businesses of all sizes, including through nature-based solutions. n. Improve coordination in disaster-related planning and investments between Ministries of Social Affairs, Ministries of Women’s Affairs and National Disaster Management Offices (NDMO) to ensure inclusion and prioritise the needs of the most vulnerable. 3.3 Local Actions a. Ensure sustained budget and institutional commitment for implementation of local disaster risk reduction and resilience strategies. b. Integrate universal design principles for accessible, inclusive, liveable and resilient cities and infrastructure, and integrate such principles for early warning and evacuation. c. Enhance business resilience in partnership with local authorities to ensure economic stimulus and recovery programmes reach MSMEs and, in combination with social protection programmes, the informal sector and migrant workers. Priority 4: Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction A consistent focus across each level of Priority 4 is the need to increase the level of proactive and anticipatory action ahead of potential and actual hazard risk. At the national and local level, a stronger focus on a rights-based approach to preparedness, response, and recovery is important. Both are particularly pertinent as disaster and climate-induced displacement continues to increase. 11 4.1 Regional Actions a. Enhance and strengthen regional cooperation to support countries in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, while ensuring that the recovery process leads to resilient, equitable and climate-sensitive societies across countries. b. Strengthen impact-based forecasting and end-to-end and multi-hazard early warning with regional organisations playing a lead role to support governments to enable early and anticipatory actions. c. Strengthen regional policy commitments to build back better and greener COVID-19 recovery plans. 4.2 National Actions a. Strengthen collaboration on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus and the integration of disaster risk reduction in Humanitarian Response Plans to ensure long- term resilience building through all actions. b. Expand pre-disaster recovery planning and enhance capacity for developing recovery plans. c. Embed prevention principles and processes in recovery and building back better. d. Enhance awareness on protection of the rights of marginalized groups during disaster- induced evacuation and displacement. 4.3 Local Actions a. Develop and strengthen localized and end-to-end early warning systems that account for the special needs of marginalized populations and are informed through data disaggregation by sex, age and disability. b. Develop and update education continuity plans and integrate build-back-better principles into the education sector; ‘Safe back to school’ should be promoted in the recovery stage. c. Integrate psychosocial support as part of disaster risk reduction, and response and recovery mechanisms; Enhance psycho-social aspect of education curriculums to protect the wellbeing of children. d. Promote and facilitate the development of business continuity plans that incorporate risk awareness and adaptive solutions to staying in business and recovering quicker after a disaster. 12 5. Monitoring and Review The monitoring and review of the Sendai Framework implementation is key to assess whether progress is being made to prevent and reduce the risk and impact of disasters. Considerable progress has been made, however, more remains to be done at national and international level. Cooperation is critically important. 1. Member States need to: a. Strengthen the reporting and use of disaster damage and loss data through the Sendai Framework Monitor and other national damage and loss databases, including reporting of disaggregated data. b. Enhance links with other relevant official statistics through the national statistical offices and with the SDG national monitoring. c. Increase data collection and establish baselines at national and local levels to report on the Sendai Framework and relevant SDG indicators disaggregated, to the extent possible2, by income, sex, age and disability. 2. Stakeholders and associated organisations need to: a. Effectively harness the Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitment platform to register and their commitments and monitor their implementation. 3. United Nations entities need to: a. Leverage global mechanisms – such as the UN Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience, and regional mechanisms such as the Regional Collaborative Platform and its constituent Issue-Based Coalition on Building Resilience – to coordinate and strengthen UN efforts to reduce disaster risk and monitor progress through enhanced data gathering and analysis. 4. UNDRR, in partnership with relevant organisations, needs to: a. Facilitate the convening of the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction and associated coordination mechanisms in support of the implementation of the Sendai Framework in Asia-Pacific and its Mid-Term Review. b. Continue enhancing national and local capacity to develop and maintain disaster loss and damage databases, conduct risk assessment, and develop and implement coherent national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. c. Enhance Member State capacity to report through the Sendai Framework Monitor, including for disaggregated data, and through online learning tools, available in local languages. d. Promote an all-of-society approach to disaster risk governance through strengthened stakeholder engagement and advocacy including through 2 While the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Indicators and Terminology relating to disaster risk reduction (OIEWG) recognizes that the importance of data disaggregation, it also acknowledges that “it might not be immediately feasible across all Member States, and therefore could not be considered a requirement in relevant indicators”. 13 coordination of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and World Tsunami Awareness Day. 14