In 1989, in recognition of the disastrous impact of natural hazards on vulnerable communities, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed, in its resolution 44/236, the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR, 1990-2000), with the objective to reduce, through concerted action, the loss of life, property damage, and social and economic disruption caused by natural disasters.

At the conclusion of the Decade, the continued rise in frequency, severity and cost of disasters facing societies has underlined the importance of intensifying public and private commitments to hazard and risk reduction.

In its resolution 54/219 of 22 December 1999, the General Assembly endorsed the report of the Secretary-General on "IDNDR: successor arrangements" (A/54/497), which was prepared pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1999/63 of 30 July 1999. The report presented an international strategy for disaster reduction and described the institutional arrangements to be made to implement it. The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), which was adopted at the Programme Forum for the IDNDR held in July 1999 and endorsed by the Economic and Social Council General Assembly, constitutes the framework for the activities of the United Nations system in the coming years.

The main objectives of the strategy are:

• To enable communities to become resilient to the effects of natural, technological and environmental hazards, thus reducing the compound risk posed to social and economic vulnerabilities within modern societies;
• To proceed from protection against hazards to the management of risk, by integrating risk prevention strategies into sustainable development activities