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Better legal frameworks for resilient communities

The Red Cross Red Crescent was recently represented in a roundtable discussion on effective normative frameworks to reduce disaster risk, which was co-chaired by Margareta Wahlström, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Eduardo Valencia-Ostina, UN Special Rapporteur for the International Law Commission on Protection of Persons in Natural Disasters, at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. The roundtable session included some 30 participants representing governments.

The first item on the agenda was the Japanese building standard law and how that is linked with government subsidized low interest housing loans. In the two hour session, the participants often referred to the need for practical and financial incentives to ensure that homes are constructed in safer areas and follow strict technical regulations.

Several speakers pointed out that even when there are existing laws, regulations and standards in many countries, they are not being implemented due to the lack of resources to monitor and ensure that these standards and regulations are adhered to. Furthermore, the violation of or non-adherence to these standards and regulations are often not penalized. Local authorities need resources and guidance to be able to transfer national legislation to local rules and regulations.

An important element which came out from the discussion was true involvement of communities. Local communities can take up initiatives to get important risk related issues to be regulated. Legislation will be more easily respected if it directs the activities in the countries based on practices and policies which are understandable and acceptable by people in the communities. Local environment, culture and habits must inform the required norms or standards. Proper and transparent risk assessment allows people to understand why the regulation is prohibiting risky activities and that it is instead promoting safer and sustainable ways of doing business.

Far too often the existing laws are governing only the disaster response phase and there is hardly anything that could be called comprehensive disaster risk reduction law. International standards for different business sectors have been developed and there seems to be interest in going in that direction. Probably voluntary quality standards could be used as a basis for more binding regulatory standards and laws. Education and promotion of risk reduction awareness are also key for many civil society actors.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and many of its 187 member National Societies are actively influencing domestic legislation for better disaster risk reduction and response. The IFRC is well placed to continue with the UNDP in moving forward the legal frameworks for disaster risk reduction project, and to work together with UNISDR in collecting and sharing best practices for effective national and international normative frameworks for disaster risk reduction.

These discussions must not stop here and need to continue. Together, legal experts and disaster management practitioners can take this important issue to regional and national platforms to ensure that a normative framework is developing faster than disaster risks.