5-3. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries,
International Organizations and NGOs
ADRC places high priority on the development of institutional and human networks to sharedisaster information in Asia. Developing networks between professionals and their counterpartsin member countries, adviser countries, and observer organizations is vital to promoting
cooperation on disaster reduction efforts in Asia. Therefore, ADRC invites high level andmanagement level officials, including deputy directors, directors, and managers, to its annual
ADRC International meeting to encourage interpersonal exchanges.

5-3-1. The 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
The 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction was held in Cancun, Mexico, during
24th to 26th May 2017. The Global Platform, held bi-annually since 2007, was established as
the main forum for those working for DRR from the national governments, the UN system,
international organizations, regional organizations, academic institutes,

civil society and theprivate sector to get together and to explore DRR challenges. The 5th meeting, co-hosted by
the government of Mexico as well as UN-ISDR, took place outside Geneva for the first time.
Diverse sessions were held throughout the three days. The 2017 GP was attended by largely
180 countries. From Japan, Mr. Habuka, Deputy Director General, Cabinet Office attended themeeting, and MOFA, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and tourism, Japan
Meteorological Agency sent delegates as well.
In the special session on Build Back Better on 24th May, chaired by Mr.Habuka, Deputy
Director General, Cabinet office, focused on the status and challenges of the policy efforts
towards BBB by learning from the lessons in the past, and discussed how to build DRR strategies
at national and subnational levels. Mr.Habuka presented the government policies for DRR andincreasing resilience by following the DRR plan in order to contribute to achieve the global
targets.
On the Day2 afternoon, ADRC, as a regional international organization, made its official
statement on the priority issues discussed so far with its member countries, based on the threemajor outcomes of the ACDR2016 in Phuket including policy measures to survive mega disasters,
strengthening of DRR and DRM by capacity development, and science and technology
supporting CBDRM. Key issues raised by member countries since the study visits to Kumamoto
last year were also integrated in it including consideration in climate change adaptation. ADRC
also informed about the ACDR2017 in Baku.
ADRC organized a breakfast meeting on 25th May to facilitate member countries’ networking,which was attended by 18 participants from nine ADRC member countries, thanks particularly
to the networks of former ADRC visiting researchers. In the meeting, Azerbaijan, hosting theupcoming ACDR 2017 in Baku, expressed their idea to invite the participants to the International
Caspian Exercise 2017 for DRR, just before the opening of ACDR2017. The host country
requested member countries to send high level delegates to the Conference considering the44

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

increasing importance of DRR. ADRC invited member countries at the SC meeting held in
Kumamoto, last December to share major DRR challenges and demands for regional
collaboration in the future, in order to discuss ADRC future priorities. At the meeting in Cancun,
the initial outcome provided by the six member countries, namely, Armenia, Bhutan, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Philippines and Sri Lanka, were shared with by the participants. ADRC requested
member countries to submit their idea and discuss DRR priorities in the future during GP meeting
period and beyond. Participants then shared updates of recent DRR policies during the briefroundtable.
During GP period, ADRC attended various sessions and also discussed the ACDR2017
organization with Azerbaijan. GP gave us opportunities to exchange views individually withmember counties as well on the future after the 20th anniversary, and to meet APEC economies
on the opposite side of the Pacific.
GP in 2019 will take place in Geneva, according to the final announcement by UNISDR.

Fig.5-3-1. Group Photo

5-3-2. ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) 2017 Ulaanbaatar
ISDR Asia Partnership (IAP) 2017 meeting was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 5th to
7th April 2017. This time, IAP meeting brought together participants from both DRR
organizations and from statistical authorities. ED participated in it from ADRC.
The meeting was opened by welcome remarks by General Badral Tuvshin, Chief, National
Emergency Management Agency, Government of Mongolia, followed by the opening remarks by
Mr. Robert Glasser, Special Representative of Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction,and the introduction of the agenda by Ms. Madhavi Ariyabandu, Officer-in-charge, UNISDR
Regional

Officefor

Asia

Pacific. Session 1 chaired by Colonel Ganzorig Tsogtbaatar,

Deputy Chief, NEMA, discussed the outcomes of AMCDRR 2016, followed by updates from theparticipating countries and international organizations.
Day 2 continued updates including that by ADRC regarding the four priorities of the Sendai

45

Framework including Kumamoto study visit, tsunami workshops, GLIDE, the 10 years’
anniversary of Sentinel Asia. Ms.Saya, Director, Cabinet Office who arrived on Day 2 provided
an informative report on recent policy progress regarding tsunami DRR, lessons learnt from the
Kumamoto earthquakes, gender issues, and OEIWG.
Preparation for the AMCDRR 2018 was then discussed based on a report made by the hostcountry. In addition to the organizational issues including the dates and venue, Mongolia provided
its initial proposal of priority issues of “Urban disaster resilience” and “Investment in DRR”,
which participants discussed by splitting themselves into three groups
Day 3 first focused on the OEIWG and monitoring of Sendai Framework. ISDR briefed about
the Sendai framework and monitoring system, on which countries reported by referring to thestatus including collaboration with statistical organization.
In many countries, information relevant to natural disasters is likely to belong to line ministries
or regional entities, and statistical bureau in charge of SDGs action plan may face difficulties towork for DRR, although many of DRR organizations seem not yet to have established effective
relationships with Statistical bureau.
Afternoon session of Day3 was first dedicated to the group exercise on the outcome of theOEIWG, which facilitated participants unfamiliar to the two years’ discussion by OEIWG
learning the outcome, although there seems to be significant gaps among participants in theunderstanding of the OEIWG outcome.
In the last session, participants shared the status of preparation and participation in GP to beheld in Cancun in May with each other. The three days ‘meeting was then closed by General
Badral Tuvsin’s remark.

5-3-3. ISDR Asia Partnership ForumThe ISDR ASIA PARTNERSHIP FORUM meeting was held on 14 and 15 December 2017 in
Bangkok, Thailand attended by many DRR officials and practitioners. The participants werewelcomed by Ms. Kirsi Madi, Director, UNISDR, followed by opening remarks and official
opening by Ms Sayanaa Lkhagvasuren, Chief Adviser to Deputy Prime Minister and Head of
DPM's Office, Government of Mongolia. After a roundtable introduction of the Participants, Ms.
Loretta Hieber Girardet, new chief, UNISDR Regional Office for Asia Pacific presented the draft
agenda.
On day 1, 16 countries including Japan made their brief progress reports on the implementationof the Sendai Framework and the Asia Regional Plan for Implementation of the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction by following the three questions informed by UNISDR,(1. Major achievements made in year 2017, 2. Main challenges and 3. Ongoing or upcoming main
programs/activities/events, followed by reports by international organizations and diverse
stakeholders including ADRC in the afternoon.
ADRC first briefed about ACDR2017 held in Azerbaijan and the APEC workshop on rural
infrastructure BBB, shared challenges ADRC member countries answered in the questionnaire46

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

survey in Azerbaijan and the ACDR2018 in Awaji for the 20th anniversary as the key upcoming
event.
Day 2 started with the report made by UNISDR on the outcome of the Technical workshop tolaunch the Sendai Framework Monitoring Process held Bonne workshop 6-8 December, and thekey dates and milestones for 2018-2019. Participants then discussed priority issues of Sendai
Framework by splitting themselves into groups. In the afternoon, Mongolia reported about thestatus of preparation for AMCDRR and the preparatory prices. In April, another ISP meeting will
be held for the preparation for AMCDRR scheduled in July 2018.

Fig.5-3-2. Conference

5-3-4. the 12th Meeting of Typhoon Committee Working
Group on Disaster Risk Reduction
ADRC participated in the 12th annual meeting of the Working Group on Disaster Risk
Reduction on “Future Strategic Plan of WGDRR after Sendai Framework” was organized by
UNESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee and the National Disaster Management ResearchInstitute (NDMI) in Ulsan, Republic Korea on 30 -31 May 2017.
The main objective of the meeting was to share the information of members' typhoon-related
public education and training. Some 30 participants from member countries and relevantorganizations, including ADRC reported on their recent public awareness and education activities
as well as updates on WMO and NDMI's DRR information system tools.
After the meeting, Advisory Working Group meeting followed to discuss future strategy of
Typhoon Committee operation on 1-2 June 2017.

47

Fig.5-3-3. Conference

5-3-5. ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee 12th Integrated
Workshop
The ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee 12th Integrated Workshop “Tropical cyclone related
forecast, warning and DRR in the era of big data and social media: challenges and opportunities”
was held from 30 October to 3rd November, in Jeju, Republic of Korea. From Japan, JMA, MLIT,ICHARM and ADRC attended the meeting. The workshop was opened by Director
General,Korea Meteorological Administration, Dr.CHO hyoseob, Han River Flood Control
Office, Republic of Korea, Mr.Yu Jixin-Typhoon Committee Secretary,Typhoon Committee
Secretariat, Mr.Taoyong Peng,Chief of TCP Programme, World Meteorological Organization and
Representative of ESCAP. Dr. NAM Jaecheol, Administrator of Korea meteorological
Administration made an opening address by video.
In the following plenary session, a series of keynote lectures were given on the main theme of“Tropical cyclone related forecast including one by Mr.Murai, JMA on “Tropical cyclone forecast
improvements at JMA-challenges and opportunities with the Bog data”.
On day 2, three parallel sessions took place and participants attended individual working
groups: JMA for working group for meteorology, MLIT for working group for hydrology and
ADRC for working group for DRR.
The WGDRR Parallel Meeting started with attended by 20 participants from nine members
including China, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Lao PDR, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand,
USA and Vietnam, and the representatives from TCS and WMO. First, participants presented
their report on the activities on DRR in 2017 and typhoons.
ADRC first summarized four typhoons that landed Japan in 2017 by October including no.3,
no.5, no.18 and no.21, and reported about recent use of GLIDE by stressing the effectiveness of
GLIDE for sharing information on disasters affecting many countries beyond borders inparticular those on typhoons. ADRC also informed about some cases of infrastructure BBB
studied in the APEC project by highlighting the BBB cases in which relevant authorities in theaffected region successfully overcame the effects of typhoon at the stage of infrastructure
recovery works. Finally, ADRC shared its member countries’ DRR priorities of climate change

48

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

and climate induced disasters, and stressed the importance of learning the past experiences suchas the great Hanshin flood in 1938.

5-3-6. APEC Workshop on Promoting Policies, Regulations
and Flexibility to Improve Resilience of Supply Chains
Prior to the EPWG meeting, an APEC Workshop on Promoting Policies, Regulations andFlexibility to Improve Resilience of Supply Chains tool place on 17th and 18th August.
This project by US initiative from APEC working group discussing transport issues, TPTWG,
has been undertaken since 2013 for an APEC action plan for five years. This year, the workshop
focused on one of the seven themes, “4. Promote best practice policy, regulations, and flexibility
to enable global supply chain resilience.”

ADRC made a report titled” Appropriate Policy

Responses for Resilient Supply Chains: What Role Can Governments Play?”. After reporting
outline of ADRC activities, in particular, APEC projects ADRC has so far contributing to, ADRC
discussed infrastructure investment as a role of government by referring to the APEC project ofrural infrastructure BBB. ADRC stressed that resilient infrastructure investment by effective
collaboration between DRR authorities and those of development is a key for DRR in addition torules and regulations. The workshop was attened by wide range of participants from both
ministries in charge of transport and from DRR. Mr.Ono, visiting researcher of ADRC made apresentation on the role of private sector.

Fig.5-3-4. Conference

5-3-7. The 12th APEC Emergency Preparedness Working
Group meeting
The 12th APEC Emergency Preparedness Working Group Meeting was held on 21 and 22
August in Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam. The second EPWG meeting in the year 2017 was attended by
11 economies, JICA, Asian Foundation and so on. The host economy gave the welcome remarks
from Mr. Tran Quang Hoai, Director General, Directorate of Natural Disaster Prevention andControl and Mr. Lê Thanh Liêm, Vice-Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.

49

Mr.Hoai, reported that in Viet Nam,DRR department of MARD, Ministry of Agriculture andrural development has been upgraded as a new department/bureau called VNDIMA( Viet Nam
Disaster Madamenet Authority) on 18th August. In the session, detailed organization of the new
VNDMA were shared throught the meeting.Peru, the host for 2017, which could not attend the
EPWG meeting in January due to the severe flood, reported this time the outcome of the Peru
year
A series of presentation were then made by Viet Nam regarding the key themes for the 11th
Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum (SDMOF 11), scheduled in September, Vinh City,
Nghe An province. Mr. Tran Quang Hoai, Director General-Directorate of Natural Disaster
Prevention and Control and Permanent member of Central Steering Committee for Natural
Disaster Prevention and Control moderated the discussion. Presentations by Viet Nam included
those on science and technology made by Vietnam Academy for Water Resources, Directorate of
Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, and so on.

Vietnam Academy of Science andTechnology presented a research by using space technology for disaster prevention and control
by referring also to Sentinel Asia. Other econoimes and non-APEC organizations then presented
their inputs and shared their ideas and suggestions for organizing the SDMOF.
Japan rported about the APEC project of Enhancing Rural Disaster Resilience throughEffective Infrastructure Investment a including the workshop scheduled in September, andinvoted member economies’ wide participation. Also, MLIT Japan briefed on CTI activities
regarding” Workshop on Capacity Building for Quality Infrastructure Investment in Rapidly
Urbanizing APEC Region” and discussed possibilities for cross for a collaboration regarding
infrastructure issue.
Economies then shared recent experiences of natural disasters and policies including policy
development from Australia and recent disasters from New Zealand, Peru. Philippines, Chinese
Taipei, Viet Nam and China. Japan, after a brief report on the heavy rainfall that hit Kyhushu,
reported about commemoration of 70th anniversary of the Kathleen in 1947 this year and the 80th
anniversary of the Great Hanshin Awaji flood in 1937 in the following year, and stressed theimportance of learning from the disasters in the past as well as in other economies so as to raiseawareness of their individual colleagues including financial authorities by reminding them ofpossibilities of mega disasters. Co-chairs then proposed economies to discuss the draft outcome
paragraphs from the group for the leaders’ declaration for the year Viet Nam items, followed bydiscussion.
Papua New Guinea, the host economy for 2018, briefed about the draft schedule of 2018 andkey policy concerns, and informed that APEC meetings in 2018 would be coordinated by Climate
Change and Development Authority, CCDA, together with Natural Disaster Center, NDC.
At the end of Day2, Chinese Taipei proposed to discuss an idea of “Plant Back Better”, oreffective recovery and reconstruction by planning vegetables, and shared a good practice inCambodia of successful income generation in the affected areas through PBB. During thediscussion, ADRC suggested that PBB could be a recovery solution for diverse social contexts
by referring to a case from Hyogo prefecture, which faces a completely different realty from that50

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOsof Cambodia, since the affected population is largely elderly and they thus planted trees insteadof restarting agriculture.

5-3-8. APEC Workshop” Enhancing Rural Disaster Resiliencethrough Effective Infrastructure Investment”
Prior to SDMOF, ADRC, together with MARD, Viet Nam, organized an APEC Workshop”
Enhancing Rural Disaster Resilience through Effective Infrastructure Investment” -- Build Back
Better of infrastructure supporting industries in region “on 19th September, in Vinh city.
This workshop, held for an APEC project was attended by approximately 40 participants from11 APEC economies.
Mr. Nguyen Sy Hung, Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Nghe a province, Vietnam gave his welcome remarks, followed by an introductory presentation
by ADRC on the concept of the project. Dr.Le Quang Tuan, EPWG co-chair, MARD,chaired thefirst session in the morning and experts reported good practices from the case economies
including Chinese Taipei by Dr. Kuo Chun-Chih, Department of Civil Engineering, National
Taiwan University, Indonesia by Dr. Khaerun Nisa ,Lecturer, Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University,
Japan by Mr. Masami Suigur, Concultant, Asia Air Survey Co Ltd, Philippines by Dr. Emmanuel
M Luna, Professor, College of Social Work and Community Development, University of thePhilippines and Vietnam by Dr. Dang Thi Thanh Huyen, Consultant. Participants then discussed
the issues raised by the experts, in particular, effective collaboration with the private sector.
Regarding the cases, Chinese Taipei, USA and Japan submitted good practices of immediate
recovery facilitating recovery and reconstruction process, Philippines and Indonesia presented
cases of transport infrastructure recovery and BBB for wider scope of areas greatly contributing
to upgrading connectivity, while Viet Nam and Indonesia analyzed many cases of locallymanageable community infrastructure by using environmentally friendly technologies, forexample.
In the afternoon, ADRC chaired the second session, in which, Chile, Mexico, Peru andIndonesia added their experiences from the government point of views, and Dr. Nguyen Dang
Giap, Director, Research Center for Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Vietnam
Academy for Water Resource pointed out challenges from Academic point of views, followed by
the private sector's view from Mr.Takufumi Ishikawa, Executive Member of JBP, Japan Bosai
Platform. Throughout the discussion, effective collaboration with the private sector as well as
close collaboration between development authorities and DRR authorities have been repeatedly
raised as the two key elements. Based on the discussion in Vinh, the casebook will be completed.

5-3-9. The 11th APEC Senior Disaster Management Officials
Forum (SDMOF)
The 11th APEC Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum (SDMOF) was held in Vinh City,
northern Viet Nam on 21-22 September 2017 and Mr.Yoneda, Deputy Director General, Cabinet

51

Office and Mr. Moriwaki, deputy director attended the meeting. ED of ADRC attended in it as
EPWG co-chair. The Forum was hosted by MARD, Viet Nam and officially opened by H.E.
Hoang Van Thang, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Viet Nam, and H.E.
Mr Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Nghe An Province.
Approximately 160 participants from 16 economies participated in the meeting.
In the first plenary session on successful cases of applying advanced technologies and regional
collaboration chaired by New Zealand, Mr.Yoneda, Deputy Director General, Cabinet Office,Japan made a presentation on use of ICT for DRR by highlighting J-ALERT, while Philippines,
Chinese Taipei, and UNISDR Asia Pacific contributed to the Panel in addition to the hosteconomy, Viet Nam.

zIn the following three technical sessions, participants from member

economies and research institutes, the private sector and international organizations provided
their experiences on application of cutting edge technologies for DRR purposes.
Based on the two days’ discussion, the final plenary session on Day2discussed draft Vinh joing
declarations on science and technology for DRR--Enhancing science technology and cooperation
to facilitate DRR decision support towards an effective policy making for upgrading DRR
governance. The economies adopted the declaration at the end and the essence was integrated
into the APEC 2017 Ministerial Meeting, Joint Ministerial Statement.

5-3-10. The 13th APEC Emergency Preparedness Working
Group Meeting
Papua New Guinea, PNG has officially kicked off its APEC year 2018 and the First Senior
Officials Meeting (SOM1) took place from 24th February to 9th March. At the beginning, the 13th
Emergency Preparedness Working Group Meeting was held at Laguna Hotel, in Port Moresby.
Mr. Ruel Yamina, Managing Director Climate Change and Development Authority Papua New
Guinea, officially opened the meeting, followed by the remarks by the new co-chair, Dr. Wei-Sen
Li, Chinese Taipei. Japan as the former co-chair expressed its gratitude to the host ecoonmy andconglaturated Chinese Taipei on its appointment to EPWG co-chair.
At the first meeting of 2018, PNG as the host economy presented the themes and priorities for
2018, “Harnessing Inclusive Opportunities, Embracing the Digital Future”. PNG then updated on
preparation for the 12th Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum, SDMOF, scheduled on
25th and 26th September in Kokopo, East New Britain island, and proposed“Advancing multi hazard early warning systems for emergency preparedness and DRM”, as
the main theme for SDMOF including effective data collection and analysis for warning,communication and delivery of warning message, and localization of warning, by learning fromthe major natural disasters that hit the economy including the Volcanic eruptions in Rabaul(1994),
Aitape tsunami (1998), Cyclone Guba (2007) and El Nino droughts of 1997-1998 and 2015-2016,
and the disaster experiences in other economies. As the outcome, PNG suggested to discuss
policy statements and recommendations to ensure early warning systems facilitating monitoringof multiple hazards, and to share best practices on the use of digital technology to collect, store,52

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

and analyze monitoring and warning data, and so on.
Co-chair then presented the EPWG 2018 Work plan, followed by updates and reports on the
progress of EPWG projects. Chile first reported about the workshop on Tsunami Threat
Assessment for Tsunami Warning Centers of APEC Economies held last December. ADRC
reported on the APEC project “Enhancing Rural Disaster Resilience through Effective
Infrastructure Investment “co-sponsored by Viet Nam, Japan and other economies, and theworkshop held in Vinh city, last September. The essence of the draft casebook was shared withand member economies for discussion. ADRC also informed member economies about the 2017
project “Identifying Economic Impacts by Mega Disasters Affecting Asia Pacific Economies“and announced that the workshop is scheduled in autumn in Awaji, Japan, back to back
ACDR2018.
In the afternoon of Day1, participants shared recent experiences of natural disasters including
the cyclones and heatwaves by Australia, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane
Maria by USA, Pohan Earthquake in November 2017 by Korea, El Nino and Mount Kadovar
eruption by PNG, and the Hualien in February by Chinese Taipei. ADRC briefed about the heavy
rainfall in Kyushu last summer, and also recent eruption of mount Kusatsu-Shirane and heavy
snowfalls this winter in Japan.
Day 2 morning session started with the report by China on the preparation of the 10th
anniversary of Sichuan earthquake, followed by a video message on recent inundation by,
INDECI, Peru. In the discussion on DRR policy priorities and APEC DRR Framework
implementation, ADRC informed about GLIDE as a basic tool for DRR information sharing thatwill facilitate implementation of APEC DRR framework and encouraged member economies to
use GLIDE. As an outreaching collaboration, ADRC also reported about its activities and thediscussion with its members on the future DRR priorities after its 20th anniversary.
PNG, despite the recent floods and the volcano eruption, successfully organized the firstmeeting of EPWG, thanks to collaboration and preparation made by CCDA and NDC.
The second EPWG meeting is scheduled in August in Port Moresby.

Fig.5-3-5. Conference53

5-3-11. Participation in the meeting entitled “Constructing
A Community of Shared Future in East Asia: China,
Japan and South Korean Search for Social
Reconciliation and Cooperation”
This meeting hosted by the Department of Faculty of Social Science and School of Public
Administration, Zhejiang University, was held as the track 2 meeting of interdisciplinary studies
on promotion of trilateral collaboration. University faculty members and public organization
researchers

who

specialized

political

science,sociology,

economics,

anthropology,

environmental science and others in China, South Korea and Japan reported their studies,
activities, efforts and experiences in their individual fields.
ADRC representative reported the present status and challenges of international cooperationin disaster reduction, by highlighting the backgrounds Asian Disaster Reduction Center andactivities so far, under the title of “Can Disaster Reduction Cooperation could leverage social
reconciliation among China, Japan and South Korea?”, and referred to the possibilities that thecollaboration for “Disaster Risk Reduction” could facilitate trilateral social reconciliation among
China, Japan and South Korea.
Participation in this meeting reminded me that “BOSAI (Disaster Risk Reduction)” doesn't
only mean dealing with disaster including natural hazards but also relates to socio-cultural
implications.
In this context, ADRC could contribute further to the trilateral relationships, if it will haveopportunities of exchanges in the future.

Fig.5-3-6. Group Photo54

5. Promoting Cooperation with Member Countries, International Organizations and NGOs

5-3-12. Global Forum on Science and Technology for Disaster
Resilience 2017
From 23rd to 25th November, the Global Forum on Science and Technology for Disaster
Resilience 2017 was held at Science Council of Japan and National Art Center, Tokyo, JAPAN
co-organized by Science Council of Japan (SCJ), United Nations International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), Public Works
Research Institute (IRDR) and National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster
Resilience (NIED)The conference was opened by the opening remarks by Dr. Robert Glasser, the Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, followed by Prof.
Shuaib Lwasa, Chair, Science Committee, Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), and Prof.
Toshio Koike, Director, International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM)
Public Works Research. Prof. Gordon McBean, President, International Council for Science
ICSU, then delivered a keynote speech
During the three days, eight plenary panel discussions including four for each priority actionof the Sendai Framework were held, while three working sessions and poster presentations wereorganized as well. In the prenary panel 2 on the priority 2, Ms. Setsuko Saya, Director ofInternational Cooperation Division, Disaster Management Bureau, Cabinet Office made anintervention. ADRC made a brief presentation in the plenary panel 1 on GLIDE and madecomments in a poster session on the use of satellite imagery with JAXA. The draft of “Tokyo
Statement 2017--Science and technology action for a disaster-resilient world was discussed. At
the end of the three days, a high level session took place in the presence of His Imperial Highness
the Crown Prince.

Fig.5-3-7. Conference55

5-3-13. The World Bosai Forum / International Disaster andRisk Conference(1)The World Bosai Forum / International Disaster and Risk
Conference 2017, Sendai
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a global framework for disaster risk
reduction, was adopted as the outcome document of the Third United Nations World
Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015. As one of the promotion, the “World Bosai
Forum/ International Disaster Risk Conference” in Sendai is scheduled to have in every two
years. The first World Bosai Forum had more than 900 participants from over 40 countries/r
regions. There were 50 DRR specialized sessions, pre-forum festival, 12 technical exhibitions,
93 poster presentations, 26 mini presentations, and study tours/excursions to tsunami-affectedareas.
ADRC participated in one of the DRR specialized sessions, the "Transdisciplinary Approach(TDA) for Building Societal Resilience to Disasters ‒ Eff orts towards Achieving the Goals of
Sendai Framework‒" organized by Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), and presented
activities and future plan of TC21 committee and TDA.

(2)Bosai Kokutai 2017
"Bosai Kokutai 2017: The National Conference on Promoting Risk Reduction" hosted by
the National Council for Promotion of Disaster Risk Reduction has been held since 2016. Bosai
Kokutai 2017 was held in Sendai at same time as " World Bosai Forum/ International Disaster
Risk Conference” and the Industry Exhibition for DRR.
ADRC has cooperated since the first Bosai Kokutai, and participated the poster exhibitionin order to promote ADRC activities in collaboration with many related organizations for thecapacity development in ADRC member countries.

56