Challenges associated with integrating global policies on DRR and CCA in urban development: Asian perspective

Abstract

The world’s population is increasing rapidly, with more than half living in Asia, mostly in urban areas. Accordingly, it is vital to reduce the current and future vulnerabilities of disasters in Asia as a precaution to save human lives as well as to reduce the damage to the natural and built environment. Increasing change on climate also further surges the vulnerability for disasters. Global policies are important to unify different parts of the world. There are three main global policies that are currently in action in the global context. These are the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and, the Paris Climate Agreement. However, integrating these global policies to the development agendas of Asian countries have become extremely difficult due to many governance, scientific and communication issues. Based on findings of a global analysis conducted as part of a research project entitled ESPREssO funded by the EU horizon 2020 programme, this paper provides a critical review of the existing challenges associated with integrating global policies on DRR and CCA into the Urban Development in Asia. During the first phase of the study, a narrative desk based literature review was conducted and during the second stage an extensive primary data collection was conducted. Key primary data collection methods were semi structured expert interviews, expert focus group discussions and an online questionnaire survey. Findings reveal institutional issues, political willingness, information management are the prominent challenges in Asia to integrate global policies into the urban development.