Environmental Governance for Resilience & SDGs

Abstract

The current global and national regimes of governance are driven through and by the three international frameworks, viz. Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Climate Agreement and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction over 15 years (2015–30) along with national, regional and local priorities In order to achieve the targets set under these goals, instruments for effective governance need to be reviewed, updated and re-installed with greater integration and vigour at relevant levels. In most instances, these by default cover the policies and regulatory provisions concerning disaster risk and resilience. Necessary integration of DRR and development goals has been recognized at the national and global level. Environmental governance is central to an integration of disaster management, climate resilience and sustainability goals. A range of instruments are in place to cater various aspects of environmental governance, ranging from assessment, planning, decision-support system, enforcement and monitoring tools, that includes EIA and SEA, Life-cycle Assessment, Risk Analysis, Auditing, Environmental Legislation. Their incorporation in disaster management helps facilitate policy integration of Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR 2015) and SDGs objectives. Present paper reviews the existing environmental-policy instruments that are relevant to disaster management applications. It also analyzes the role of EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and Environmental legislation including examples from Asian countries and discussing the usefulness and appropriateness of these tools that are useful in disaster risk reduction and management.