Practical Coherence

What is practical coherence?

It describes an approach to how coherence can be achieved. Suitable entry points for greater coherence at national and local level can be found in the planning, implementation and reporting phases of and to global agendas. These three areas hold the potential to achieve practical coherence. But coherence can only be achieved when the process heading towards it is also coherent. A coherent process integrates all relevant ministerial sectors and government levels as well as non-governmental actors into analysis and decision-making.

1. Planning

The 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework each have their own planning regimes, such as development plans, National Adaptation Plans (NAP) and DRM strategies. In general, however, preventative measures to avoid losses are often linked to planning. Public sector planning, from national down to the local level, offers many entry points for comprehensive disaster risk management. Spatial and development plans, which are risk-sensitive, are pathing the way for risk-resilient development. Within the annual budgeting process, only projects, which consider disaster risks and climate risks together, should receive financing. This is also true for infrastructure projects, since they not only need to withstand current but also future risks and dangers. Coherent planning is about identifying synergies and commonalities between these different types of plans.

2. Implementation

Implementing the different plans offers leverage for greater coherence, specifically in:
• institutional arrangements that promote horizontal and/or vertical cooperation in the public sector and participation mechanisms that promote cooperation between all sectors of society;
• financing arrangements (including innovative ways of mobilising private resources) that facilitate expenditure independently of the agendas and public-sector investment policies that take sustainable development criteria, DRM and climate change requirements into account;
• state regulations in the form of norms or standards.

3. Reporting

Having integrated various Sendai indicators into the monitoring of SDG 1, 11 and 13 has already been an important achievement for coherent reporting. The Sendai Framework Monitor that was launched by UNISDR in March 2018 thus provides an online platform for Member States to report on progress on the seven global targets and 38 indicators of the Sendai Framework and these DRR targets within the Sustainable Development Goals. Another issue is data availability and access: reporting depends on a common database that can be accessed easily by all stakeholders and uses mutually defined parameters.