ESCM is implementing the project on Disaster Risk Management (Mongolia)

ESCM is currently implementing an ADB (Asian Development Bank) project on Disaster Risk Management together with ICEM, Australian consulting company in Mongolia to assist the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of Mongolia in strengthening its capacity to deal with disaster risk assessment and risk reduction efforts.

Mongolia is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, susceptible to dust storms, droughts, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and dzuds — severe winters which can kill large numbers of livestock. The country experiences over 3,000 small to medium-scale disasters each year, posing serious setbacks to the country’s social and economic sustainable development. Current laws and policies predominantly focus on disaster preparedness and emergency response but do not adequately cover disaster risk reduction, financing, or insurance.

The proposed knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) will help the National Emergency Management Agency of Mongolia develop the legal, policy, and institutional frameworks needed to strengthen disaster risk assessments and promote disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk financing and insurance in Mongolia.

Within the project implementation period from 2020–2024, the project team consisting of 20 international and national experts, have developed National level Disaster Risk assessment report, Disaster risk reduction (DRR) planning guidelines, national Disaster Risk Financing Strategy and other policy guidelines and handed over to the government bodies.

The TA will improve the capacity and ability of NEMA, ministries, local government officials, and communities to understand and better plan for disaster risks and respond to disasters. The knowledge and outputs generated through the TA will also provide evidence-based policy recommendations and a draft law for disaster insurance as a key financial risk management tool.

The project final workshop was held in the Novotel Conference Center in Ulaanbaatar on 6 March 2024 with participants from NEMA, Deputy Prime Minister’s office, various line ministries and research institutions working on disaster risk reduction field in Mongolia.