In recent decades, an increasing number of catastrophes, both anthropogenic and natural, has been observed more frequently. One of the reasons for the increasing frequency of disasters, especially natural disaster, is also climate change. The efforts of international organizations to reduce the risks of disaster resulted in the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (1990-1999) and in the organization of the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, held in 1994 in Yokohama (Japan).

The co-organizer of the conference was the the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), which also acts as the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), based in Geneva. As part of the regional activities under the strategy, the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction focuses on the problems of individual regions and serves as forum for the exchange of experience on disasters specific to the European region. The Czech Republic is an active player in these relevant foras and negotiations at global and regional levels.

In 2005 the Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction conference was held in Kobe, Japan and adopted The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (HFA). Its goal is to substantially reduce disaster losses by 2015 by identifying  disaster risks and building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters.

At the Third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan, in 2015 was adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The Czech Republic was participating in the preparations of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee for the Conference as a member of the Bureau. The Czech delegation headed by Richard Brabec, minister of Environment of the Czech Republic, included the representatives from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Interior and relevant experts from The Czech National Committee for Natural Disaster Reduction (advisory committee of the Ministry of Environment for advocacy, coordination, analysis and advice on disaster risk reduction). The conference established Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Indicators and Terminology Relating to Disaster Risk Reduction, comprised of experts nominated by States, including by the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic also regularly participates in the most important international meetings in this field, both at the global level - the so-called Global Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction, which are held every two years (2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction took place on 24 - 26 May 2017 in Cancun, Mexico) and at regional level - the annual European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, whose session was held in Roma in November 2018.

Find more information about international environmental activities of the Czech Republic on the website of The Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic.