Disaster Risk Reduction and Security
Disasters affect the security of nations and communities. They pose grave risks, including at the transboundary level, across the OSCE region. Climate change is expected to lead to more extreme weather events in the future, which are likely to increase the frequency and scale of disasters. The OSCE - with its comprehensive security approach - has an important role to play in addressing disaster risk reduction issues. Methods and tools of disaster risk reduction (DRR) also provide powerful means for joint action and confidence building among OSCE participating States and between different stakeholders.
The importance of co-operation on disasters for the security in the OSCE region was recognized in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. This was followed by several policy documents, including Ministerial Declarations and Ministerial Council Decisions and Strategies, that referred to disaster preparedness and management in the OSCE context. Under the leadership of the Swiss 2014 OSCE Chairmanship, the 22nd Economic and Environmental Forum has facilitated an extensive discussion on DRR, resulting in the adoption of the Ministerial Council Decision No: 6/14 on Enhancing Disaster Risk Reduction at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel in December 2014. This Decision reinforces the OSCE’s commitments on disaster risk reduction and consolidates a policy framework for the OSCE’s further contributions. Its effective implementation also facilitates the Organization’s work towards translating global commitments into concrete actions at the regional level.
With this renewed mandate, the OSCE continues to address security challenges associated with disasters through a number of projects and activities, ranging from promoting community based disaster risk reduction and co-operation among neighboring municipalities across borders, to ecosystem restoration to mitigate floods in transboundary river basins, and by strengthening national and regional capacities on wildfire management.
The OSCE activities in this field contribute to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, and the Sustainable Development Goal 11 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.