Multi-Sectoral Reflections and Efforts in Strengthening Partnerships to Reduce Disaster Risk in Mexico: The First MuSe-IDRiM Conference

Abstract

Notwithstanding the high societal impact of disasters in Mexico, there is a lack of integrated efforts to establish a sound policy for reducing disaster risk to counterbalance the existing concentrated endeavors in disaster management. In the face of such segmentation, the science and technology community has advocated for a change of perspective, from civil protection to integrated disaster risk management. The first Multi-Sectoral Conference towards Integrated Disaster Risk Management in Mexico: Building a National Public Policy (MuSe-IDRiM Conference) was held in Mexico City at National Autonomous University of Mexico, 21–24 October 2019. In support of the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the conference aimed at enhancing the dialogue between the science and technology community, citizens, civil society organizations, private and public sectors, and the federal, state, and municipal governments to foster the process of transforming the current National Civil Protection System into a national public policy oriented towards integrated disaster risk management (DRM). Barriers and challenges to the implementation of integrated DRM were identified. Implementation of integrated DRM challenges current socioeconomic structures and encourages all relevant stakeholders to think, decide, and act from a different perspective and within and across spatial, temporal, jurisdictional, and institutional scales. Understanding disaster risk from an integrated approach, learning skills that authorities have not learned or used, and hence, strengthening disaster risk governance are prerequisites to effectively manage disaster risk.