Sessions also highlighted the challenges.  Many pointed to increasingly high economic damages from disasters with risks to critical infrastructure. This is being compounded by urbanization and more extreme weather, driven by climate change, which has become the new normal.

Setting the next priorities, the Yerevan Declaration identifies strong commitments to intensify action. It calls for making disaster risk assessments a prerequisite for land use, urban planning, infrastructure and housing investments. National Platforms on disaster risk reduction through the inclusion of stakeholders including women, people with disabilities, children and youth are also highlighted as a key commitment.

Delegates reaffirmed their determination to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015- 2030, with a focus in reaching the Target (e) – the development of national and local strategies on disaster risk reduction – by 2020. 

As the next steps, host country Armenia is invited to present the Yerevan Declaration to the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction in November in Rome, Italy and the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in May 2019, Geneva, Switzerland.

Date:

29 Jun 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Europe (UNISDR EUR)

Themes:

Capacity Development, Advocacy & Media, Risk Identification & Assessment, Urban Risk & Planning

Regions:

Europe