How Does the Central Government Make a Remark in the International Arena of Disaster Risk Reduction? Focusing on the Frequency of Statement Publication at the UN Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the attitudes of each member state on disaster risk reduction (DRR), and the issues that need to be addressed in the international arena of DRR, to move forward with the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR). To this end, we focused on the last three United Nations meetings of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) after the agreement on the SFDRR and analyzed the frequency of publication of official statements by each member state. In addition, the status of these official statements was analyzed in terms of the actual geographical distribution of disaster risk. We clarified that (1) the GPDRR is not necessarily aware of the situation and opinions of all member states; (2) the trends between the frequency of official statement publication and the actual amount of risk are not always closely related; (3) the member states in the Asian and Pacific Ocean region were more active in presenting official statements than those of other continents; in other words, the attitudes of Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and some African member states, which also have high disaster risks, were shared less frequently in the international arena; (4) some least-developed member states are actively making official statements and expressing their intentions despite the limited human and financial resources. The results of this study would be helpful for member states that have not yet made official statements in the past GPDRR to advance their official statement publication and situations in the international arena.