Japan: Taking Action for Sustainable Development

100 days after Haiyan © UNDP Philippines

We experienced
the Great East Japan
Earthquake and Tsunami,
and are in the process ofreconstruction.
We hope to sharewith the world, the lessons
learned and the reality,
to decrease similar
damages, not to repeat thesame tragedy.

What are the bold actions being taken by the public-private
partnership to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals?
Natural disasters undermine
hard-earned development gains
and perpetuate poverty. Building
resilience against naturaldisasters, exacerbated byclimate change, is a global
priority that calls for decisive andurgent action by multiple actors
at the global, regional andnational levels.
In Japan, Tohoku University
International Research Instituteof Disaster Science (IRIDeS),Fujitsu Limited and the United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) agreed toform a partnership to build andoperate a new global database,in the Global Centre forDisaster Statistics (GCDS),
that aims to reduce thedamage caused by major
natural disasters around theworld.
In this project, Fujitsu will not
only use its overall capabilities in
information and communication
technology (ICT) to support probono the construction of theglobal database, it will also
support through donations its
operation and the improvementof disaster prevention
administrative capabilities inProf. Fumihiko Imamura
Director of the International
Research Institute of Disaster
Science (IRIDeS),Tohoku University

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Japan: Taking Action for Sustainable Development
advice to each State throughUNDP.
Fujitsu will use ICT to support
the improvement of disasterprevention capabilities indeveloping nations through theGCDS.
The three organizations will work
together to achieve the goals
laid out in the Sendai Frameworkfor Disaster Risk Reduction.

Progress of national disaster loss database development in Asia (2015) © UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub

developing nations. Through theactivities of this partnership, thethree organizations arecontributing to the building ofsocieties that are prepared for
major natural disasters
especially in Asia-Pacificdeveloping countries.
Why do the above actions
matter to people in Asia?
In recent years, major natural
disasters have frequently
occurred in Japan and othercountries in Asia and the Pacific,
becoming a major obstacle todeveloping nations' sustainable
development and economic andsocial growth.
In particular, there is a fear thata concentration of populations inurban centres is further
increasing the risks of harm,demanding a reduction of thatrisk.

What SDGs have been
particularly advanced in theproject?
The project focuses on Goal 11
on sustainable cities andcommunities, and Goal 17 on
partnerships.

How does the partnershipwork among the three actors?
UNDP guides the collection ofdisaster data, information
disclosure, and policy making indeveloping nations.
Tohoku Univeristy IRIDeS, aresearch institute of Tohoku
University in Miyagi prefecturethat was directly affected by theGreat East Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami in 2011, stores thestatistical disaster data collectedby Member States in the GCDS,
performs data analysis, andprovides disaster prevention
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