Message from the President

We established the Japan Bosai Platform in June 2014, and it was a result of multi-level collaboration and efforts among various stakeholders, including multiple ministries, private sector business people, international organizations, and academics. JBP has conducted many activities since then, and it is our pleasure to share the learning and direction forward based on the activities.  
 
The land of Japan has so many natural hazards and disasters. However, we have always overcome the difficulty and tragedy at the cost of such precious people’s lives, and we always rose again and built back better, and kept preparing for the next occasions.  
 
Our efforts and achievements, based upon a close collaboration among academic, public, industry, and citizen, are well known and recognized highly in the international community. The Sendai Framework, which is a global guiding principle in the area of DRR, is well integrated into SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). These international agreements were possible based on unlimited contributions by many stakeholders such as the government of Japan, the academic, private sector, and civil societies in Japan and abroard. 
 
Negative impacts of natural disasters around the world are increasing due to the accelerating level of climate change, and there seems no sign of slowing down. Several regions and cities which were not affected by natural hazards in the past are now experiencing unprecedented natural disasters. We realized that we simply could not rely on past experiences alone anymore.
 
By the way, the Japanese word “bosai” means comprehensive effort against natural hazards to reduce the loss of life and property at each stage of planning, preparation, defense, prediction, warning, refuge, rescue, and reconstruction. With that, we believe that time has come for Japan to initiate innovation in DRR without clinging to success experiences in the past and accelerate innovation activities to save people proactively before a disaster. 
 
Based on this fundamental innovation principle, JBP will pursue the following three activities as core ones. 
 
1.     Japan still has needs for better DRR because of ongoing climate change. Thus JBP will focus both on Japan and other countries. 
2.     DRR is not a standalone segment nor activity. It is part of urbanization, infrastructure building and maintenance, ICT building and maintenance, various products, and multiple processes. Accordingly, JBP will pursue bosai activities according to the concept. 
3.    It is necessary to design and build an Ecosystem or Operating Systems (OS) such as the legal system, human resources, and funding to leverage technology and know-how of the private sector. JBP will proactively participate in building Ecosystem/OS in both Japan and overseas. 
 
JBP will pursue the above activities proactively and patiently. However, we can not do so without collaboration and assistance with various stakeholders since JBP is a platform (ba in Japanese) of holistic cooperation among multiple stakeholders. We do appreciate your support and partnership with us to create a better and safer society around the globe.