Miyagi University of Education and the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

The 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will be held in Sendai from March 14 (Sat) to March 18 (Wed), 2015. Miyagi University of Education (MUE) will participate in the Public Forum and Study Tours to introduce MUE's disaster recovery support utilized after the Great East Japan Earthquake as well as our studies and activities of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) within the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

MUE's contribution to the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake

MUE established the Center for Disaster Education & Recovery Assistance immediately after the earthquake in June 2011. Its purpose was to contribute to the recovery of education. The center cooperated with other divisions and organizations to provide educational support to the community. As a teacher training university, MUE has strove to provide voluntary educational support, by MUE students and others from all over Japan, by collaborating with teacher training universities. They were assigned to schools in disaster-hit areas to help compensate for educational loss caused by the disaster. It was a successful project, both for the community and for the volunteer students, as it served to raise awareness about the importance of learning support for those who had been affected by the disaster. We value such voluntary actions taken by students and cherish their growth as human beings who have benefitted from this valuable first-hand experience. (The project will be introduced mainly at the MUE booth in the Public Forum.)

MUE's DESD over the past 10 years and DRR education for the future

ESD has taken part in the advancement of DRR education since the 2011 disaster in the Tohoku District. As the occurrence of natural disasters continues to rise, many individuals are left wounded; their homes, livelihoods and families, destroyed. More practices are needed to promote current DRR education based on the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) as well as further development of ESD. Ten years have passed since ESD and HFA began. In order to find methods to prevent us from these disasters, the forum will explore the role of ESD in the sustainable DRR framework in the light of ongoing ESD discussions with participants from all over the world. Topics include DRR education, human resource development for disaster recovery, sustainable resilient community, etc.

About DESD
Education is a crucial factor in tackling various global issues. The 10-year period from 2005 to 2014 was assigned the title, The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). UNESCO became the sponsoring organization of ESD, and the Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) was established to implement ESD in education. MUE, a member of ASPnet, has supported activities through ESD promotion and group networking.

About HFA
Meanwhile, HFA, a statement from the Second UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which states practical and prioritized DRR methods for the nations and international organizations to pursue, was also established ten years ago, approximately at the same time DESD was launched.  Since the Great East Japan Earthquake hit Japan in 2011, MUE has contributed in restoration/recovery assistance, in addition to human resource development for disaster recovery as ASPnet. MUE had been cooperating with local educational organizations such as the Board of Education from Kesennuma since before the earthquake. Training programs were conducted to develop disaster-resilient human resources and to explore the role and effect of ESD in order to confront global issues. As a result, studies on DRR education, based on the lessons from the earthquake and the role of ESD in achieving sustainable DRR, have been established.

Assessing the past decade
DESD related conferences were held in November 2015 in Okayama (November 5-8) and Nagoya (November 10-12) to reassess the decade of ESD worldwide. They concluded policy for post DESD and introduced future development of ESD in "Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development," which reaffirmed ESD to be implemented into sustainable development within DRR and others.  Additionally, HFA will be reviewed and revised as HFA2. It will be adopted as the core standard of World Disaster Prevention Policy during the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The Forum will hold worthwhile discussions on the improvement of DRR based on practical ESD experiences.

At the Forum
Miyagi University of Education will co-host a forum “Fostering DRR through Education for Sustainable Development: Towards a Better Future for Children” with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO. The forum will discuss Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) education within the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). DRR education has grown as a major component of ESD, particularly since March 2011 in the Tohoku area. The Aichi-Nagoya declaration on ESD (November 2014) clearly reaffirmed that it can serve as a vital means of implementation of DRR, hence specific measures and strategies should be discussed to effectively foster DRR within the ESD context. As leading promoters of ESD, the organizers will present practical DRR educational programs from local elementary, junior high and high schools. Practitioners in both fields are invited to explore the contribution of ESD to DRR and develop a framework from their common ground for a better future for children.