Leave No One Behind

Overview of the Project

This Fellowship will investigate links, coherence and potential overlaps between two key international frameworks adopted in 2015, namely the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the UNFCCC Paris Agreement on Climate Change, assessed through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project will chart the application of those frameworks in national/sub-national legislation and policy decisions; provide scientific outputs on informal law-making dynamics; develop research-based analysis and advocacy and guidance tools to promote Agenda 2030’s objective of leaving no one behind.

The centrepiece of the UN’s Agenda 2030 are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. Among the numerous references to climate-related disasters contained therein, SDG 1.5 stresses the need to “build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate related extreme events and other […] environmental shocks and disasters”. As explicitly required by SDG 13.2, laws which address the root causes of disasters should be integrated “into national policies, strategies and planning”. This highlights the need to strengthen institutional resilience and coordination, ensure clarity in responsibilities and prioritise activities.

Aims

This research project will support legal and policy reforms for local and national authorities by providing evidence-based guidance and tools aimed at establishing comprehensive, cross-sectoral and inclusive measures. It will focus on the need to promote concrete advocacy actions and capacity-building activities aimed at supporting the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC) efforts in providing concrete guidance to national and local institutions in the adoption and implementation of innovative climate-smart DRM laws that protect the most vulnerable. This will stimulate integration and synergies between wider governance arrangements, e.g. the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) processes and the risk reduction strategy processes (Sendai Framework, Target E).

Outputs

• Literature Review on Aligning Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

• Compendium on the Post-2015 Global Agenda on Climate Risk Governance
• Law and Policies that Protect the Most Vulnerable against Climate-Related Disaster Risks – Findings and Lessons Learned from Pacific Island Countries (Full Report)
• Law and Policies that Protect the Most Vulnerable against Climate-Related Disaster Risks – Findings and Lessons Learned from Pacific Island Countries (Executive Summary)
• Chapter 6 on ‘Climate-smart disaster risk governance. Ensuring inclusive and coherent regulatory frameworks’ (IFRC World Disasters Report 2020)
• Addressing specific vulnerabilities through climate and disaster risk governance: lessons from the Philippines (Full Report)
• Addressing specific vulnerabilities through climate and disaster risk governance: lessons from the Philippines (Executive Summary)
• The Hourglass Model: Understanding Coherence, Alignment and Integration
• Integrating CCA and DRR Laws and Policies towards a Climate-Resilient Development Lessons from the Commonwealth of Dominica (Full Report)
• Integrating CCA and DRR Laws and Policies towards a Climate-Resilient Development Lessons from the Commonwealth of Dominica (Executive Summary)

Dr Natoli presentation at the IFRC – UNDRR – AU Webinar on ‘Governance for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation – Achieving target E of the Sendai Framework Experiences from Sub-Saharan Africa’ (3 November 2020)

The IFRC also wishes to thank and acknowledge the support provided by the German Government for the completion of this project.