The Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 aims to achieve the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. To this end, it outlines seven targets and four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks: (i) Understanding disaster risk; (ii) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; (iii) Investing in disaster reduction for resilience and; (iv) Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

2023 marks the midpoint in the implementation of the Sendai Framework, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. It is also an important milestone for other UN frameworks such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Called for by the UN General Assembly, the Midterm Review of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework (MTR SF) is currently ongoing to assess progress on integrating DRR into policies, programmes and investments at all levels, identify good practice, gaps and challenges and accelerate the path to achieving the goal of the Sendai Framework.

The MTR SF has retrospective and prospective elements. It works to take stock, identify emerging issues, uncover context shifts, and build coherence with other frameworks, to better address the systemic nature of risk and so realise regenerative and sustainable development.

Raising the voice of the global engineering community

Engineers play a pivotal role in implementing sustainable development in the built environment. However, there is currently no official policy position from engineers on the Sendai Framework. The International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI) has set out to deliver a Policy Paper outlining the position of the global engineering community, which will be fed into the Sendai Framework Mid-Term Review. This is a unique opportunity for making the voice of the engineering community heard on global agendas in this high-level forum.

The ICSI Policy paper will:

• take stock of the global engineering community’s role and contribution to the implementation of the Sendai Framework;
• identify gaps in knowledge and capacity and priorities for action; and
• make recommendations for how to accelerate the path to implementation of the Sendai Framework and other global agendas in the coming decade and beyond.

Global Consultation

We are launching a global consultation to collect views from members of the engineering community on topics related to the implementation of disaster risk management, resilience and sustainable development in the built environment. As part of this consultation, we are seeking input and feedback from engineering institutions, practitioners and academics through this survey, expert interviews and convenings. ICSI will be seeking input from the global engineering community over the months of July, August and September 2022 as follows:

• Collate and review of existing published work and initiatives on the role and contribution of engineers to implementation of sustainability, resilience and disaster risk reduction in the built environment.
• Launch a global survey to ascertain the current position of engineers on the targets and priorities of the Sendai Framework and other global agendas, existing gaps and priority areas for action as well as current and future capabilities needed to implement them.
• Hold regional convenings to gather views from key stakeholders from the engineering community.

Taking part

You can take part in the global consultation by completing the survey below, which comprises three parts: 

Part 1 Introduction

Part 2 Implementation of Disaster Risk Management and Resilience

Part 3 Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals

Part 2, which constitutes the bulk of this survey, has been designed to align with the consultation for the Mid-Term Review of the Sendai Framework. We encourage participation from those with all levels of understanding about the Sendai Framework.

Below are two versions of the survey, please select the most appropriate survey based on your familiarity with the Sendai Framework. You only need to complete one survey.