Preparatory process

In preparation for the 2017 Global Platform, many activities were held simultaneously around the world and online to facilitate a dialogue with all stakeholders on moving the disaster risk reduction agenda forward.

Organizing Teams: help shape substantive sessions

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) expresses its appreciation to all stakeholder groups who submitted an application to join the Organizing Teams. The application process is now closed. All applications will be reviewed to balance regional, gender and stakeholder distribution for each session. Selected applicants will be contacted after which they can start working on designing and organizing their sessions.

Regional Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction

Regional Platforms are recognized by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction as critical processes and mechanisms to monitor progress in its implementation at the regional level and to support the preparations for and discussions at the 2017 Global Platform.
 
Preparations of the 2016 Regional Platforms are well underway (see the calendar below). Major efforts are being made to ensure coherence and complementarity among the 2016 Regional Platforms and the 2017 Global Platform in terms of objectives, structure and agenda setting.
 
A key common objective of the Regional Platforms will be to foster the revision and alignment of existing regional strategies for disaster risk reduction to the Sendai Framework. They will also focus on critical aspects of indicators, monitoring and national implementation of the Sendai Framework.
 
The organization of the 2016 Regional Platforms and the 2017 Global Platform benefit from a genuine multi-stakeholder approach with the engagement and contribution from Governments, stakeholder groups, the private sector, civil society in both the preparatory processes for the Platforms and at the Platforms’ discussions.
 
The main outcome documents expected from 2016 Regional Platforms and the 2017 Global Platform include:

• A High level Communiqué
• A Chair’s Summary
• Stakeholders’ commitments
• Proceedings

Calendar of 2016 Regional Platforms on Disaster Risk Reduction (as of July 2016)

• Africa: 6th Session of the Africa Regional Platform and the 5th High-Level Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction (22-25 November 2016, Port Louis, Mauritius)
• Americas: Regional Platform for the Americas to be hosted by Canada (fourth quarter of 2016) building on the outcomes of the High-Level Ministerial Meeting on the Implementation of the Sendai Framework (8-9 June 2016, Asunción, Paraguay).
• Asia: Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (2-5 November 2016, New Delhi, India)
• Central Asia and South Caucasus: Sub-regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (12-14 July 2016, Dushanbe, Tajikistan)     
• Europe: 7th Annual Meeting of the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (3-5 October 2016, Helsinki, Finland)    
• Pacific: 7th Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management (24-26 October 2016, Suva, Fiji)

Consultation process in the lead up to the 2017 Global Platform

An extensive substantive consultation process was undertaken in May and June 2016 with countries and other stakeholders to contribute to the shaping of the 2017 Global Platform’s agenda.

In May 2016, a substantive consultation paper was shared with Member States on the occasion of UNISDR Support Group meetings, inviting their contribution and recommendations for topics to be addressed at the 2017 Global Platform. The same consultation took place with stakeholders through an “Online Dialogue”. The results of these consultations can be found here:

The contributions received from these various consultations are being compiled into a draft list of topics proposed for discussion at the 2017 Global Platform. These will influence the substantive discussions at the 2016 Regional Platforms.

Additional consultation processes with Governments and stakeholder groups identified in the Sendai Framework will be undertaken as the Global Platform substance develops, in order to refine further the list of topics and distribute them throughout strategic and policy discussions (with heads of state, ministers, leaders and CEOs at the Leaders Forum, special high-level sessions and plenaries) and technical discussions (with Governments, representatives from civil society, technical and scientific institutions, the private sector, and the media on the occasion of multi-stakeholder working sessions, and special events).