Establishment of the Disaster Risk Reduction Unit in UNESCO and UNESCO’s Contribution to Global Resilience

Abstract The occurrence of catastrophes has increased considerably in recent decades. Climate change, urban pressure and lack of disaster preparedness are increasingly transforming natural hazards into disasters, causing multiple losses. In the last decades, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has captured significant attention as the main approach to reduce vulnerabilities and exposure and improve preparedness to protect regional, national and local development. One of the main international agreements adopted to strengthen and enhance society’s resilience is the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030), which emphasises the need for more inclusive, multi-hazard DRR processes and its synergies with climate change, health, and sustainable development. Within this framework, UNESCO enhances preparedness and builds resilience at all levels through multi-hazard, multi-discipline, and multi-stakeholder DRR mechanisms, supporting the Member States particularly on eight thematics. Likewise, UNESCO has been a catalyst for international, interdisciplinary cooperation in many aspects of disaster risk reduction and mitigation. The organisation has supported activities of international DRR programmes, such as International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), as part of its global contributions to this and other international agreements.