Japan’s contributions to the construction of a resilient global world through disaster risk reduction

Abstract

Throughout its history, Japan has experienced countless disasters, which has led the country to develop a culture of disaster risk prevention and reduction of its consequences. The definition of strategies, the management of the knowledge acquired through experience, and the development of technologies to face disasters have made of Japan an international benchmark in terms of disaster risk reduction (DRR), while the country’s conceptual contribution has allowed for the development of an authentic disaster risk prevention culture, in contrast to the previous focus on post-disaster recovery. Since the 1980s, Japan has promoted international cooperation in disaster risk reduction using two strategies. The first one consists in assuming a leadership role on DRR in international fora, especially within the UN, which has led Japan to host in its territory three UN World Conferences on Disaster Risk Reduction, which produced three referential documents on DRR, the last of them the 2015 Sendai Framework. The second pillar is its international development cooperation policy, based on the concept of human security and channeled through its official development aid (ODA) programs managed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). All these DRR actions are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate action