Disaster Reduction Conference adopts Declaration

The International Disaster Reduction Conference (IDRC), co-organized by UNESCO and held August 26^th-September 1^st, 2006 in Davos, has closed with the adoption of a Declaration by more than 600 participants. The Declaration draws attention to important issues in integrated risk management and development; gender and disasters; environmental vulnerability; education, knowledge and awareness. Participants from Africa, for example, advanced plans for promoting mutual interest and cooperation in disaster reduction for safer, disaster-resilient communities and issued a position paper outlining details in this regard.

The UNESCO Exhibition of Didactic Tools on Natural Disaster Reduction was displayed in Davos, alongside the IDRC. This multilingual exhibition gives a new vision in terms of strategy, since it appeals to children's creativity. Thus, it shows how to build up a culture of safety and to resist the effects of disasters through education.
The exhibition includes contributions from international and regional organizations, NGOs, and national institutions from the 5 continents. This exhibition will be updated and enriched with new contributions in the future. The contents of the exhibition will soon be accessible on UNESCO Natural Disaster webpage.

Periodic progress reports and assessments will be made available on the conference website.

Photo© SHOA, Valparaiso, Chile - Detection buoy being lowered into the ocean