National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework

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Disaster Risk Reduction Collection

In Australia, we are all too familiar with the devastation and disruption that natural hazards such as bushfires, cyclones and flooding can cause. The National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework outlines a national and comprehensive approach to proactively reducing disaster risk, now and into the future.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework is a multi-sector collaboration led by the National Resilience Taskforce within the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs. The framework was co-designed with representatives from all levels of government, business and the community sector.

National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (PDF 4.43MB)

2030 vision and goals for disaster risk reduction in Australia

Vision:

In Australia, we are enabled and supported to actively reduce disaster risk and limit the impacts of disasters on communities and economies. All sectors of society understand and respond to social, environmental, technological and demographic changes which have the potential to prevent, create or exacerbate disaster risks. All sectors of society:

make disaster risk-informed decisions,
are accountable for reducing risks within their control
invest in reducing disaster risk in order to limit the cost of disasters when they occur.

Goals:

Take action to reduce existing disaster risk
Minimise creation of future disaster risk through decisions taken across all sectors
Equip decision-makers with the capabilities and information they need to reduce disaster risk and manage residual risk

Priority 1: Understand disaster risk

Improve public awareness of, and engagement on, disaster risks and impacts
Identify and address data, information and resource gaps
Address technical barriers to data and information sharing and availability
Integrate plausible future scenarios into planning
Develop cohesive disaster risk information access and communication capabilities to deliver actionable disaster risk data and information
Support long-term and solution-driven research, innovation and knowledge practices, and disaster risk education
Improve disclosure of disaster risk to all stakeholders

Priority 2: Accountable decisions

Consider potential avoided loss (tangible and intangible) and broader benefits in all relevant decisions
Identify highest priority disaster risks and mitigation opportunities
Build the capability and capacity of decision-makers to actively address disaster risk in policy, program and investment decisions
Establish proactive incentives, and address disincentives and barriers, to reducing disaster risk
Maintain planning and development practices that adapt to rapid social, economic, environmental and cultural change
Promote compliance with, and embed resilience requirements into, relevant standards, codes and specifications

Priority 3: Enhanced investment

Pursue collaborative commercial financing options for disaster risk reduction initiatives
Develop disaster risk reduction investment tools to provide practical guidance on investment mechanisms
Leverage existing and future government programs to fund priority risk reduction measures
Identify additional current and future potential funding streams
Improve the accessibility, variety and uptake of insurance
Empower communities, individuals and small businesses to make informed and sustainable investments

Priority 4: Governance, ownership and responsibility

Establish a national mechanism to oversee and guide disaster risk reduction efforts and cross-sector dependencies
Establish a national implementation plan for this framework
Support and enable locally-led and owned place-based disaster risk reduction efforts
Incentivise improved transparency of disaster risk ownership through personal and business transactions
Consistently report on disaster risk reduction efforts and outcomes
Create clear governance pathways for pursuing disaster risk reduction projects

Natural hazards are more frequent and intense

Many natural hazards are becoming more frequent and intense, driven by Australia’s changing climate. The Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO’s 2018 State of the Climate Report describes the effect of Australia’s changing climate, including warming temperatures, rising sea level, more severe fire weather, and increased rainfall in Australia’s north and decreases in the south. It is predicted that these changes will continue, while new natural hazard threats will emerge. There is growing potential for cumulative or concurrent, large-scale natural hazards to occur.

Essential services are interconnected and interdependent

Australians depend on reliable and affordable food, water, energy, telecommunications, transport networks (including road, rail, aviation and maritime) and financial services. These functions also depend on each other. The networks that ensure the sustained delivery of food, water and energy involve complex interactions between infrastructure, people, the environment, money and technology. A failure in any of these elements could have wide-ranging consequences across communities, businesses, governments and economies.

People and assets are more exposed and vulnerable

As cities and regional centres expand to accommodate growing populations, the buildings and infrastructure needed to support our future communities will be exposed and vulnerable to natural hazards. The 2015 Intergenerational Report highlights that our population is growing and ageing. Our overall standard of living has improved, yet socioeconomic differences among communities remain, and people and assets continue to be located in at-risk areas such as coastal zones, floodplains and areas where bushland meets cities and towns.

Disaster impacts are long term and complex

The impacts of disasters can be long term, complex, and intangible. Collectively, we are only now beginning to fully understand indirect, flow on and cumulative effects of disasters. We know that disasters can trigger long-term challenges across a range of areas, including reduced education and workforce participation, increased crime, and physical and mental health and wellbeing. These impacts are often felt disproportionately by vulnerable or susceptible groups. Factors such as health and wellbeing, economic resources, social capital and knowledge influence a person’s ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.

The costs of disasters are growing

In 2017 Deloitte Access Economics, reporting to the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience and Safer Communities, found that over the past decade, disasters have cost the Australian economy around $18 billion per year. Assuming current development patterns and population growth continue, this is forecast to reach $39 billion per year by 2050. This forecast does not account for the effects of a changing climate, which are expected to magnify these costs; nor does it account for losses that cannot be quantified but are no less important to people. Deloitte Access Economics found in 2015 that the intangible costs of disasters – including increased family violence, mental health impacts, chronic disease, alcohol and drug use, short and long-term unemployment, changes to school academic outcomes, and crime – are at least equal to, if not greater than, tangible costs.

Momentum to address financial impacts of a changing climate is building

There is significant momentum building across sectors to address climate and disaster risks. The release of the 2017 Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosure Report increased market understanding of climate risk and demand for services to help identify and manage that risk. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and Australian Securities and Investment Commission have stated that climate-related physical and economic transition risks are foreseeable and material financial risks that should be addressed by company directors alongside all other financial risks. Mainstream investors are divesting from stock in exposed industries, credit rating companies are reassessing credit ratings to factor in climate-related risks and several banks have commissioned analysis of their mortgage books based on location. The Investor Group on Climate Change, in its 2018 Investing in Resilience report, predicts that the ability to differentiate investment opportunities by climate risks will be a key financial metric within the next 3-5 years. These developments provide additional reasons to take action to reduce disaster risk and position Australia for the future.