Climate change, coupled with urbanisation, rapid population growth and environmental degradation, is creating greater risks of disasters. How these are dealt with is largely defined by the frameworks for governmental and local disaster risk reduction (DRR) management and mechanisms.

ACT members in Indonesia have been involved in the consultations on the second Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA2). This will replace the current HFA, ending in 2015, which offers guiding principles and practical means for achieving disaster resilience.

Our members came together to press for a framework that will ensure lessons from the current framework have been learnt. Vulnerabilities are so often complex and depend on local hazards, local perceptions and capacities.

ACT, therefore, has emphasised the importance of giving a voice to grassroots priorities and incorporating these into the new framework. The global agreements that will guide and govern the HFA2 will be adopted in March 2015.

Thinking behind the first framework involved thematic field and stakeholder group discussions. This new phase will identify the principles, targets and indicators, as well as mechanisms for implementation and monitoring.

Based on grassroots and multi-stakeholder consultations, ACT, together with a local and national DRR forum, contributed recommendations on strategy and indicators for the next Hyogo Framework – particularly around operational issues of community resilience and the role of women. ACT has created a sub-group to work exclusively on its participation in the HFA2.