OAS

From HFA-PEDIA

OAS (The Americas)

The 35 independent countries of the Americas are members of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The OAS, through its Sustainable Development Department, has a longstanding history of supporting member states of the OAS in assessing their vulnerability to natural hazards and mitigating the effects of disasters, through different activities and resources that include technical assistance, training and technology transfer through intervention in development planning, project and policy formulation.

The IACNDR acts as the principal forum of the Inter-American System for analyzing issues related to natural and other disasters, including prevention and mitigation of their effects, in coordination with the governments of member states; competent national, regional, and international organizations; and non governmental organizations.

The Inter-American Program for Sustainable Development (2006-2009) takes into account, in particular, the areas related to systematic risk management. These include risk identification, risk reduction, and risk transfer, as well as the commitments assumed in the Hyogo Declaration and Hyogo Framework for Action, adopted at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Japan, in January, 2005.

The OAS has more recently established the Inter-American Network for Disaster Mitigation (INDM) to support good governance-related activities in reducing the risk posed by natural hazards, by supporting on-going cooperation and collaboration among member states, multilateral and regional organizations in risk-reduction programs, projects and strategies in the hemisphere, including the development of the Regional Platform of the Hyogo Framework for Action