Opening a major United Nations conference on risk reduction in Cancun, Mexico, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed cautioned that the world would not reach its development goals without tackling climate change and disaster risk reduction. U.Khurelsukh Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, who is participating in the forum, also called for efforts to be taken in disaster risk reduction.

Held every two years since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to discuss disaster reduction, the 2017 Global Platform – the fifth such event to date – is bringing together some 6,000 Heads of State, policy makers, disaster risk managers, civil society and other participants. This is the first international summit on disaster since the Sendai Framework, which was adopted in 2015 in the northern Japanese city which was badly hit by the 2011 tsunami. The Sendai Framework 2015-2030 has the four aims of understanding disaster risk, strengthening risk management, investment in risk management and enhancing preparedness.