UNESCAP draws on its mandate as the United Nations regional commission for Asia and the Pacific to promote regional coordination and cooperation for natural disaster management.

UNESCAP has been actively involved at various levels to promote the principles of natural disaster prevention and preparedness. UNESCAP draws upon its programme of work in the areas of poverty reduction, managing globalization, and emerging social issues to apply a multi-disciplinary approach to natural disaster management. Through its technical cooperation expertise, UNESCAP provides assistance on various aspects of natural disaster management in the areas of environmental management, information technology, communications, space applications, and social issues. These issues are addressed through various channels, including the undertaking of socio-economic analyses of disaster impacts, integration of risk management into national development processes, reinforcement of regional partnerships for disaster preparedness, capacity building at community levels to enable effective responses to mitigating impacts and facing disasters, and support for national and regional coordination mechanisms for disaster preparedness.