1. That each government makes “disaster management” policies a priority issue.

2. That “disaster management” is implemented in all development policies and plans.

3. To increase investments in “disaster management”.

As seen by the floods in Thailand (September to December 2011), water-related disasters are becoming more frequent and intense in many parts of the world. The population of victims affected by water-related disasters in Asia account for roughly 85% of water-related disaster victims for the entire world. Despite this situation, countermeasures for water-related disasters are still lacking and the aspects of disaster management and water management need to be strengthened in an integrated manner. Under these circumstances, the 6th World Water Forum was held in March 2012 and in June the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) was held to discuss water-related disasters in the context of global water issues.

In order to share the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake (March 2011) with the world, Japan hosted the “World Ministerial Conference on Disaster Reduction in Tohoku” in July 2012 and in October of the same year, the “Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group” were held in Japan for the second time in 48 years since 1964. Financial ministers from around the world participated in the Annual Meeting and engaged in intensive discussions about disaster management. In conjunction with the Annual Meeting, the World Bank, MLIT, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) jointly hosted the “Seminar on Sharing Lessons from Great East Japan Earthquake.” Discussions were held on how various countries from around the world including Japan can support the “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction” in developing countries in light of the lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

In light of these developments, in March 2013 the “Special Thematic Session of the General Assembly on Water and Disasters” was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, jointly hosted by the UN Secretary-General, UNSG’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB), and High Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster (HLEP/UNSGAB) for the purpose of discussing the direction of actions to be taken on a global scale regarding water and disasters. His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince of Japan attended this meeting to make a keynote speech on creating a society more resilient to disasters by making use of available means and learning from lessons in history. The Vice-Minister for Engineering

UN Special Thematic Session of the General Assembly on Water and Disasters

Source) High Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster (HLEP/UNSGAB)

Affairs of MLIT took the podium as a panelist to present the lessons learned from the experience of tsunamis caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake.

In 2015 the Hyogo Framework for Action, $ ^{Note 1} $ an international framework for disaster management, will be up for review. In preparation for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in Japan, there will be discussions for the formulation of a new framework to follow the Hyogo Framework for Action and positioning disaster management on the new development goals (post Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)) $ ^{Note 2} $ post 2015 to promote the “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction” within development and international cooperation.

Note 1 The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) is the first plan to explain, describe and detail the work that is required from all different sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses. It was developed and agreed upon at the Second UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in January 2005 in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. The HFA outlines five priorities for action, and offers guiding principles and practical means for achieving disaster resilience. Its goal is to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 by building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

Note 2 Common goals for international society in the field of development based on the Millennium Declaration adopted at the UN Millennium Summit held in September 2000 in New York.