5th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2014 Integrative Risk Management - The role of science, technology & practice 24-28 August 2014 in Davos, Switzerland

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Closing of IDRC Davos 2014
Thursday 28 August 2014
Concluding Remarks
Walter J. Ammann, Chairman IDRC Davos 2014
 Let me again, and at this closing instance, thank you all for having
joined this 5th edition of the International Disaster and Risk Conference
(IDRC). Your active and dynamic participation has made of this
Conference a successful event. I am grateful to each and every one of
you.
 I am really happy and I feel deeply gratified that this global gathering
has come to confirm the tradition of IDRC, a tradition that makes of
IDRC a global event, a global platform and forum which brings together
different actors and stakeholders to take stock of the progress made in
integrative risk management and to suggest ways forward to improve
risk management.
 Prior to the Conference, we all have set up a primary objective for it:
attempt to contribute to, and to somewhat focus our deliberations on the
discussions underway regarding the post-2015 Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction and, to some extent, the link to Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) which will succeed to the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) as well as to the challenges related to
Climate Change and to the post-Kyoto Protocol.
o I am happy to note that, thanks to your concentrated contributions,
this objective has been attained: the output of this Conference will
definitely inform and feed into the process underway preparing for
the year 2015, and in particular, throughout the next seven
months leading to the Sendai World Conference on Disaster Risk
Reduction.
o May I, at this juncture, greet our colleagues from Japan who made
themselves available to attend this Conference despite their busy
engagement in the ongoing Conference preparatory process. I
wish to express the interest and commitment of Global Risk
Forum GRF Davos in collaborating with our Japanese colleagues
and Japanese institutions concerned in the preparations for
Sendai and, furthermore and more importantly, in the
implementation of the post- Sendai outcome.

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 I feel proud that, hereafter, the Global Risk Forum GRF Davos will,
based on the results of this Conference, find itself in an enhanced active
mode concerning the Sendai process but also, and in particular, in the
follow-up to the Sendai Conference. Thank you for having contributed
to enhancing the IDRCs reputation and to the strengthening of the
capacity of GRF Davos in moving forward after this Conference and in
conveying messages to the Sendai process.
 Let me recall some figures which have marked this Conference. We had
over 750 participants registered, including participants from more than
80 countries, from the United Nations and international organizations;
from NGOs, the private sector, science and the media.
 We had 9 keynote presentations; 15 special panels; 85 sessions; 5
workshops; 78 posters; close to 50 panelists and 311 presenters; 5 book
presentations; 4 lunch cinemas. The conference has featured the
ceremony of Risk Award at the opening last Sunday. And tomorrow we
have an excursion on alpine ecosystem services to the Parsenn
Mountain.
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 We have witnessed outstanding presentations and rich discussions.
 We observed that the global risk landscape is getting more and more
complex, and the dynamics in resilience-building are evolving fast.
 We have underscored the increasing exposure and vulnerability to
hazards and risks but we have also recognized progress made in
integrated approaches to protect our societies against these hazards
and risks.
 The focus of our Conference was: The role of science, technology and
practice in integrative risk management. I feel that we have succeeded
in observing this focus.
 We underscored the crucial role of science and technology. We
cautioned against gaps in knowledge and underlined the need to fill
such gaps; we urged for further progress in research; in science and
technology; we identified needs; we underscored the crucial need to
learn how to properly apply knowledge, how to put it into practice,
notably by providing decision-makers and policy-makers with timely and
proper information and advice which they need and which the scientific
and technical community is called upon to provide.
 We discussed links and intersections between Disaster Risk Reduction,
Resiliency, Sustainability and also Humanitarian spheres.

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 I felt that, in our deliberations, we recognized and had in mind the pre-zero
draft of the post-2015 Framework for disaster risk reduction which
was released less than three weeks ago. Rich and pertinent comments
were made on this draft.
 Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the United Nations
Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, had honoured us at the
opening last Sunday by sharing with us her vision regarding the process
that led to this pre-zero draft, by highlighting the essential elements of
this draft and by describing the process which will be followed in the
upcoming seven months leading to the adoption in Sendai of the post-
2015 framework for DRR. I know that many of you will be active in this
process. May I count on you to build, in your contributions to, and
participation in the Sendai process , on the lessons and messages that
emerged from this week. Please do consider that each and every one of
you definitely has an ownership of the outcome of this Conference.
 The conference has enjoyed very encouraging opening greeting
addresses and has featured remarkable keynote presentations. I am
grateful to the Mayor of Davos, Mr Tarzisius Caviezel to have been
present in person and to have devoted a welcoming word to our event. I
also thank the representatives of the Patronage Organizations who
conveyed to us greetings at the Opening Ceremony.
 Outstanding keynote presentations were made encompassing the
perception of risks, thinking the impossible, bridging policies to practice,
challenges pertaining to imbalances in identifying risks, preparedness in
the business and labour Sectors.
 Ambassador Michael GERBER has called for the need to anchor
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) into the Sustainable Development
Goals, dwelling on the Swiss experience. Other Keynote presentations
have highlighted national experiences and the benefits of sharing such
experiences, with her Excellency Nivedita Haran, General Secretary
Home Department, Government of Kerala, India who shared with us her
experience in managing crisis, daily accidents and disasters and in
putting into practice policies of DRR. The Japanese experience in
incorporating science and technology in disaster risk reduction was
conveyed by Satoru Nishikawa; H.E. Birima Mangara, overviewed,
yesterday, the Sovereign Risk financing challenges in Africa, and Halil
Afsarata, AFAD, shared with us his views on similar challenges in
Turkey.
 All in all, our deliberations have strongly underlined the role of science
and technology, hence echoing the emphasis put on this matter by
Margareta Wahlström and also in the pre-zero draft of the framework on
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disaster risk reduction, but also the need and responsibility of science to
transform scientific knowledge into applicable know how.
 I have also retained that the importance of the role of the Private
Sector has been highlighted. Public-private partnerships are more
important than ever and will hopefully be further highlighted in Sendai.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, dear colleagues and fellows,
 I close this Conference with a deep feeling and honour that the IDRC
community is a global community which is committed to continue acting
in a dynamic way in spheres complementary to, and in synergy with the
governmental and intergovernmental spheres towards disaster
resilience. I feel proud of such a conclusion and I thank you all. I shall
have the honour to convey, on your behalf, the key message that
science and technology have important roles in achieving disaster
resilience and in informing and implementing practices to achieve this
goal.
 Before expressing my sincere gratitude to all who made this conference
a success, I would like to award the winners of our various contests:
 IDRC Davos 2014 Poster Award
1. Esther BERGSTRA,, The Wageningen University, Netherlands
Title: Cyclone resilient landscape, a landscape approach conducted
in the case of Vatomandry, Madagascar
2. Andi ZA DULUNG, Ministry of Social Affair, Republic of Indonesia,
Indonesia
Title: Tagana builds community awareness for Disaster Risk
Reduction
3. Cagdas KOCKAN, Ankara Governorship The Directorate of Disaster
and Emergency Management, Turkey
Title: Natural disasters and risk management
 The most outstanding Movie Presentation
Annette MIKES, Harvard Business School, Boston MA, USA
Title: The Kursk Submarine Rescue Mission
 IDRC Davos 2014 Photo Contest
Ms. Hatice Avci, 34935 Sultanbeyli/ Istanbul, Turkey.
You find the amazing picture on page 72 in our programme booklet.

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 Let me conclude with some sincere words of thanks:
 Our thanks go to the IDRC Davos 2014 patronage organizations
UNISDR, UNESCO, UNITAR, UNEP and ILO,
 To our four Patrons Ms. Irina Bokova UNESCO, Ms. Sally Fegan,
UNITAR, Henrik Slotte UNEP and Donato Kiniger, ILO
 to our sponsors – in particular to our platin sponsors SwissRe and
the ETH Board but also to our Silver Sponsors ESRI and the Swiss
Federal Office for Civil Protection, as well as to our Bronze
Sponsors RMS, Ayan Energy, DRI International, and the Swiss
National Science Foundation
 And to our Official Carrier SWISS International Airlines.
 to the co-hosting and Endorsing Institutions,
 to the high-level panelists and speakers,
 to the authors of all the papers and posters,
 to the special session and workshop organizers;
 to the Strategic Advisory Group
 to the Scientific and Technical Committee and the Reviewers,
 and lastly to the Chairpersons for their leadership and guidance.
 to the exhibitors who brought not only outstanding products but
also many different colors into our corridors.
 to the Davos Congress Administration and the technical team
 to the catering crew.
 And last but not least – a big thank you goes to the volunteers and
my team from GRF Davos.

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I hope that you have enjoyed the conference and Davos, and wish you a safe
trip home. I hope to see you at our 6th IDRC Davos 2016 conference, to be
held from 28 August – 1st September 2016 in Davos again. But before, I am
looking forward to seeing you this evening at the conference dinner.
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Thank you very much, once again.
Only together – we will make things happen!
The 5th IDRC Davos 2014 is closed.
Walter J. Ammann
Chairman IDRC Davos 2014