Mar.10-12, 2023
Mar.10-12, 2023
What kind of image do you have of disaster risk reduction? Do you see disaster reduction as something that is important but difficult, hard to do, not very interesting, gray and dull?
It does not need to be like this! We launched the World BOSAI Forum to bring together citizens and experts from around the world, from business, government and civil society, to stimulate enthusiasm and practical solutions on disaster risk reduction.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake, nearly 20,000 people were killed. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people who were connected to those victims also suffered unbearable separation.
We are committed to "BOSAI", the holistic Japanese concept of disaster risk reduction, to spreading a positive approach around the world so that such a sad thing will never happen again.
We hope that many of you will come to the World BOSAI Forum 2023 to discuss, learn, and spread disaster risk reduction throughout the world.
Dr Ono trained as a geographer and climatologist, specialized in wind-related disasters such as tornadoes. For 20 years, he worked on the development and promotion of international disaster risk reduction policies at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, Geneva), the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR, Geneva and Bonn), and the United Nations Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP, Bangkok.) He returned to Japan in 2012 to join the newly-established International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) at Tohoku University, Sendai, where he heads the Practical Research and Collaboration Division and also serves as the director of the Global Center for Disaster Statistics, a joint initiative with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
In 2015, in Sendai, Japan, the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) formulated and agreed on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, a set of international guidelines for efforts related to disaster reduction. The Framework incorporates many of the concepts promoted in Japan, such as the importance of investment in disaster reduction and the need to "Build Back Better” after a disaster event. With its long experience with disasters and as a world leader in the field of disaster reduction, Japan takes a special interest to promote the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Furthermore, the experience of Japan and the Tohoku region in the process of recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011, has attracted great interest from around the world.
However, while there have been a variety of international conferences on disaster risk reduction held around the world, including UN-led and academic conferences, there are few international "forums" where specific solutions to reduce damage from disasters can be focused, shared, and discussed.
Therefore, we decided to establish a forum in Sendai to propose solutions for disaster risk reduction from various perspectives, both domestic and international, industry, government, academia, and civil society, to learn from each other, to create new values, and to promote the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This is the World BOSAI Forum.
"Disaster risk reduction" is a term that refers to efforts at all stages of a disaster, including disaster preparedness, risk mitigation investment, emergency response after a disaster, and recovery and reconstruction stages. By translating disaster risk reduction in Japanese into English as "BOSAI", we aim to emphasise the holistic nature of risk reduction and to integrate the concept of disaster risk reduction into policies, societies and cultures around the world. This integration is sometimes referred to as "mainstreaming disaster risk reduction".
The 1st World BOSAI Forum (2017) gathered together many interested stakeholders, particularly Sendai City, Tohoku University, United Nations, international organizations, governments, private companies, media, NGOs/civil society organizations, universities and research institutes, to share information and discuss concrete solutions for reducing disasters. The Forum also promoted the creation of a field for new partnerships and other initiatives.
At the second World BOSAI Forum (2019), discussions were held on how to achieve Global Target E of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (to significantly increase the number of countries with national and local disaster reduction strategies by 2020). The results of the discussions on what is a better recovery, what is a psychological recovery, and how to cope with disasters caused by climate change, which has become more serious in recent years, as well as the application of advanced technologies such as AI and IoT technologies to disaster management, were shared with the world.
The third forum, World BOSAI Forum 2023, will focus on (1) encouraging more active participation by the private sector and younger generations, and (2) increasing participation and interaction by holding highly planned sessions on several themes, especially those related to integrated and interdisciplinary approaches. The Forum aims to disseminate information to the world on concrete solutions for disaster reduction as the World BOSAI Forum, through dialogue among industry, government, academia, and the private sector, including through an emphasis on the perspectives of women and young people.
Sendai, Japan
| The official Name of the Conference | World BOSAI Forum 2023 / International Disaster and Risk Conference 2023 in SENDAI （hereafter called WBF） |
|---|---|
| Scheduled Date | March 10 to 12, 2023 |
| Venue | Sendai International Center Aobayama, Aoba-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi 980-0856, Japan |
| Organizer | World BOSAI Forum Local Organizing Committee/World BOSAI Forum International Steering Committee |
| Partnership | Cabinet Office, Reconstruction Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Iwate Prefecture, Fukushima Prefecture, The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. Sendai branch office, The Asahi Shimbun Company Sendai branch office, Sankei Shimbun Co., Ltd. Sendai branch office, The Yomiuri Shimbun Sendai branch office, NHK Sendai branch Office, Miyagi Television Broadcasting Co.,Ltd., TOHOKU BROADCASTING CO., LTD., Sendai Television Inc., HIGASHI NIPPON BROADCASTING Co.,Ltd., Sendai FM BROADCASTING, INC. |
| Estimated participants | Approximately 4,500 people from research institutions, international organizations, government agencies, domestic and international experts on disaster prevention from companies, cities, NGOs, etc., citizens, students and the media. |
| Nombulelo Kitsepile Ngulube | Kyoto University |
|---|---|
| Laila Kabir | Manager, Bangladesh Disaster Preparedness Centre (BDPC) |
| Jihyeon Park | Founder and CEO of JHSUSTAIN |
| Feng Shuxian | Meiji University |
| Kimio Takeya | Special Advisor for Disaster Prevention, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA） |
| Satoru Nishikawa | Professor, Disaster Mitigation Research Center, Nagoya University. |
| Thomas Schmidlin | Professor, Department of Geography, Kent State University |
| Hizir Sofyan | Syiah Kuala University |
| Yuichi Ono | Professor, International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) , Tohoku University |
The five figures on the poster represent people of different skin colors, religions, and backgrounds who are united by a single goal of disaster prevention, bringing together their hearts and knowledge to share with the world.
The lower part of the poster depicts people's lives and the nature that is closely related to and always has a great impact on us. The World BOSAI Forum aims to create a society where nature and human activities are in harmony and no one suffers from disasters.
Poster design： Mikio Odaka
The Forum aims to serve as a basis for the sharing of research, technology, and experience in disaster prevention among people and its spread throughout the world.
This logo was created with the image of "a sign of knowledge sharing a vision of disaster prevention”. The logo depicts a diverse group of people gathered at one "table" to think, discuss, and create.
The four-colored shapes in the logo represent the four priorities of industry, government, academia, and the private sector, as well as the four priority actions of the "Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. We believe that the creative ideas that emerge from these flexible discussions will contribute to the future.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Sendai.
Logo design: Yu Sato, Nanairo Co.
Ono-kun is a cute stuffed toy knitted with stuffing socks, and appears casually in the World BOSAI Forum. The origin of Ono-kun can be traced back to the Great Depression in the United States in the 1930s. It is said that the "sox-monkeys" started when a mother stuffed old socks with rags and sewed them together as toys, at a time when many people were in poverty and could not buy toys for their children.
After the Tohoku earthquake in 2011, the idea caught the hearts of women in Rikuzen-Ono, Higashimatsushima, who were residing in temporary shelters, leading to the birth of a Japanese-made sock monkey called Ono-kun. In temporary housing, there is little but what is given. These women, who had suffered from the disaster, had a strong desire to do something by themselves for others, and set about making hundreds of different Ono-kuns.
Mr. Ono, who heads the World BOSAI Forum, visited these women and was appointed by them as a goodwill ambassador of Ono-kun.
Ono-kuns will not be involved in the World BOSAI Forum as a yuru-chara (mascot) but appear casually in consideration of his favorite word “mendokushe (bothersome!)”.
