Ahead of the UN conference on disaster-risk reduction to be held in Sendai, Japan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon explains the need for a global strategy on disaster risk reduction. This meeting together with the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December "promise to generate transformative action that can set the world on a safer, more prosperous, and more sustainable path", Mr. Ban said.

Read Mr. Ban's op-ed.

Photo credit: Ban Ki-moon visits the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant on the border of Paraguay and Brazil, which provides renewable clean energy for the two countries/UN Photo, Evan Schneider.