The UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030: Negotiation Process and Prospects for Science and Practice

On 18 March 2015, at the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction, 187 members states signed the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction2015–2030 (SFDRR). This global agreement on national action for disaster riskreduction (DRR) replaced the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015 (HFA).The SFDRR agreement was only the final stage of a long process that involvedmany consultations across government and with civil society at national, regional and global levels. The closing negotiations were fraught and required a final 36h non-stop stretch of debate before the host nation, Japan and supporting UN agency, the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), could declare consensus. So what does the SFDRR mean for different actors? This paper integrates accounts of the process and outcomes of the negotiations from the personal observations of members of the United Nations Major Groups for Non-Governmental Organizations and for Science and Technology. The authors had access to the preceding consultation and negotiation processes as well as the political negotiations and surrounding science and civil society conference at Sendai.