The Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, in March 2015 builds on the United Nations’ Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-15. The Framework serves as a guide for UN member states to the development of local and regional strategies to mitigate disasters, particularly through increasing the resilience of nations and communities.

The Sendai conference resulted in a revised, concise forward-looking document that considers recent experience gained through regional and national strategies for disaster risk reduction (DRR), presents a revised DRR framework and identifies opportunities for regional cooperation in the implementation of DRR strategies.

The revised Framework for Action is likely to influence Australia’s National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (NSDR), and hence the focus of Australia and New Zealand Emergency Management Council's (ANZEMC) work, with a particular emphasis on actions to implement the strategy.

In turn, a revised NSDR will influence the priorities of the Australian emergency management sector; that is, AFAC member agencies. This is particularly pertinent as we anticipate an increasing frequency of intense weather-related disasters in coming decades.

This paper will explore the key themes addressed at the Sendai conference, potential implications for the NSDR, for the emergency management sector and for AFAC members, expressed in its Strategic Directions for Fire and Emergency Services as Strategic Direction 1 – ‘Supporting resilient communities through risk reduction’.

This paper addresses the core conference topic ‘Building Community and Disaster Resilience’, drawing attention to the issues considered by UN members as the key drivers and solutions for disaster risk reduction in the future. These include, for example, global risk trends, risk identification and assessment, improving DRR decision-making, the needs of children, rural areas and eco-systems, the role of climate, economics and land-use planning in DRR, and the need to build resilience as well as a more effective response capacity.