The 2019 Meeting of the Biennial Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering – RDFL, represented by the Bekaa center coordinator Roula Zeaiter, participated in the 2019 meeting of the biennial Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in which it discussed among other issues, the 2019 edition of the Global Assessment Report on DRR. It convened under the theme, ‘Resilience Dividend: Towards Sustainable and Inclusive Societies’. RDFL participated in interventions and special sessions on protection and how to adapt women to their new society. Rola mentioned that RDFL team is working on issues of protection for women to adapt to conflict, and the context in Lebanon is very difficult to reduce the risk of conflict, and it is difficult for women to adapt to it. And accordingly she submitted RDFL’s recommendations to the UN agencies present in the conference.

Each of the three official days focused on, respectively: taking stock of progress made since the last Global Platform; risk-informed public and private investments, including investments in infrastructure, and innovative investment modalities; and action on climate and disaster risk, including integrated national policies, strategies and planning, innovative financial and social instruments, and early warning awareness raising, disaster preparedness and community resilience.

The Global Platform further discussed monitoring and reviewing progress in implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR, in the context of trends in global risk, as well as stakeholders’ voluntary commitments; take stock of development and implementation of national and local strategies and plans for DRR, in line with the Sendai Target E, and in synergy with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change; forge partnerships and share practice and knowledge on disaster risk-informed policies, programmes and investments, including on development and climate issues; and promote the integration of disaster risk management (DRM) in other relevant sectors.

The Science and Policy Forum for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) convened in parallel with the Global Platform for DRR 2019.

The outcomes of the meeting shall contribute to the deliberations of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), UN General Assembly (UNGA) and other relevant UN bodies and processes, including the UN 2019 Climate Change Summit.