UNDP Assistant Administrator Izumi Nakamitsu Explains What the Crisis Response Unit Does

IPS Editor in Chief Ramesh Jaura talked to UNDP Assistant Administrator Izumi Nakamitsu, Director of the Crisis Response Unit in Sendai, Japan, at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) on 17 March 2015, to learn what the Unit is tasked with, the challenges the U.N. Development Programme is facing and its role in disaster risk reduction. The conference concluded 18 March 2015 declaring the participants' determination "to enhance efforts to strengthen disaster risk reduction to reduce disaster losses of lives and assets worldwide".

UNISDR’s Margareta Wahlström on the Nitty-gritty of Disaster Risk Reduction

IPS Editor in Chief Ramesh Jaura talked to Margareta Wahlström - head of UNISDR, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General - in Sendai, Japan, at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) from 14 to 18 March 2015, exploring the outcome of the conference and its implication for funding and transfer of technology, the future of official development assistance (ODA) and the crucial role of the civil society in general and faith-based organisations in particular in reducing disaster risk.  

Sendai Conference Stresses Importance of Women’s Leadership

Women play a critical role in reducing disaster risk and planning and decision-making during and after disasters strike, according to senior United Nations, government and civil society representatives.

Sendai Conference to Move From Managing Disasters to Risk Prevention

As the world inched towards a crucial United Nations Conference in Sendai, Japan, Margareta Wahlström, head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), assured that there was “general agreement” on the need to “move from managing disasters to managing disaster risk”.