Traditional decorative panel outside the GP2017 conference centre in Cancun (photo: Jon Halty/UNISDR)

23 May 2017, CANCUN, Mexico – The escalation of economic losses from disasters is expected to draw a record attendance of 7,000 people at a biennial UN forum that will bring world leaders and representatives of civil society together to agree ways and means of preventing and mitigating disaster impacts.

Hosted by the Government of Mexico, the event will also see the launch of a global accountability mechanism to measure reductions, in loss of life, in numbers of disaster affected people, in economic losses, and in damage to critical infrastructure from 2020 to 2030. These are key targets of the global plan to reduce disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

New measures are expected on making multi-hazard early warning systems more widely available to low and middle income countries which suffer 90% of all deaths related to natural hazards.

Small Island Developing States are also meeting to share practical solutions to living on the front line of climate change as they grapple with the existential threat posed by extreme weather and rising sea levels.

The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction which will be officially opened on Wednesday by the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, has taken place five times since the Indian Ocean tsunami killed some 230,000 people, a catastrophe that has driven major improvements in early warnings, disaster preparedness and disaster management. There have also been two UN World Conferences on the subject in 2005 and 2015.

Mortality from some natural hazards has declined but disasters are now estimated to cost the global economy US$520 billion and to push 26 million people into poverty every year.

Mr. Robert Glasser, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, said today: “Two years ago we adopted the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Poverty is a key driver of disaster impacts and vice-versa, so reducing disaster losses is a priority.

“If we are to break this vicious circle then this week we need to spur action on ensuring that strategies are in place at national and local level by 2020 which manage the risks which drive disasters and that they include strong governance, action on climate, a focus on urbanisation and environmental protection.