Disaster risk reduction and humanitarian aid are subjects of high priority at the international level, and Latin America and the Caribbean has attached them special relevance due to the impact of natural disasters in the region.

During the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in March 2015 in Japan, participants approved the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which emphasizes the need for the public and private sectors to work more closely and create opportunities for joint action, so that companies integrate disaster risk reduction into their management practices.

The creation of partnerships between the public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction is now a priority for Latin American and Caribbean institutions specialised in risk management, and the actions carried out in this area are coordinated and supported in the region by the United Nations system, specifically by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with which the Permanent Secretariat of SELA has been working on this matter in close coordination and collaboration.

The "V Regional Meeting on Public-Private Partnerships for Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean” was held in Santiago, Chile, on 6 and 7 October 2016. It was organized by the Permanent Secretariat, jointly with the National Emergency Office (ONEMI), the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security of the Republic of Chile and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). The objectives of this meeting were: i) Continue to promote partnerships for disaster risk reduction; ii) identify and analyse successful experiences in the area of risk management and disaster prevention from the perspective of corporate social responsibility; iii) Continue to support the coordination and cooperation of the work carried out by the UNISDR and OCHA in the field of strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors for disaster risk reduction; and iv) Further promote continuity of government and business and operations during disaster situations, from a regional, comprehensive and forward-looking perspective.

For the year 2017, the Permanent Secretariat has scheduled the conduction of the VI Regional Meeting on “Partnerships between the public and private sectors for the Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean”, jointly with the United Nations Regional Office of the Americas for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), in order to continue assessing the impact of disasters on critical and essential public and private services and sectors, so as to generate preventive policies and anticipate scenarios during disasters and catastrophes.