A/HRC/27/66 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 24/10, the Human Rights Council requested the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to prepare a study on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in natural disaster risk reduction, prevention and preparedness initiatives, including consultation and cooperation with the indigenous peoples concerned in the elaboration of national plans for natural disaster risk reduction, and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-seventh session. The Human Rights Council also decided to convene, at the same session, a half-day panel discussion on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in natural disaster risk reduction, prevention and preparedness initiatives. 2. The Expert Mechanism called for submissions from States, indigenous peoples, nonstate actors, national human rights institutions and other stakeholders to assist it in the study. The submissions received are, where permission was granted, publicly available on the website of the Expert Mechanism. A. Hazards, vulnerability and risk 3. A disaster is not always or necessarily the inevitable consequence of the manifestation of a natural phenomenon such as an earthquake, a typhoon or another type of meteorological or geological event. In areas where there are no human interests, natural phenomena do not constitute hazards, nor do they result in disasters. They do, however, become hazardous events when they occur in close proximity to human populations. The more vulnerable the population is, in terms of where they live, their level of knowledge and awareness of and preparedness for the hazards, and the resources they have at their disposal to limit their exposure, the greater the adverse impact will be on their lives and livelihoods. 4. Although virtually nothing can be done to prevent the incidence or intensity of most natural phenomena, human actions can increase the frequency and severity of natural hazards. States and vulnerable populations, including indigenous peoples, have an important role to play in ensuring that their own actions (or lack thereof) do not contribute to creating a disaster. For example, healthy ecosystems play an important role in mitigating or reducing the risk or disasters, yet human interventions such as the destruction of coral reefs and deforestation can diminish the ability of ecosystems to provide protection against natural hazards.1 5. A disaster, therefore, is “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are often described as a result of the combination of the exposure to a hazard, the conditions of vulnerability that are present, and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce or cope with the potential negative consequences.”2 6. This definition and other disaster terminology defined by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction promote a common understanding in the implementation of 1 2 Organization of American States, “What are natural hazards?” Available from www.oas.org/dsd/ publications/Unit/oea54e/ch05.htm#1.%20how%20natural%20are%20natural%20hazards (accessed 4 August 2014). United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2009 UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction, (Geneva, 2009), p. 9. Available from www.unisdr.org/files/7817_UNISDRTerminology English.pdf (accessed 4 August 2014). 3