The proposal of the Open Working Group on SDGs includes five targets on resilience and disaster risk reduction. Separately, the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be organized on 14-18 March in Sendai, Japan, is expected to agree on a successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) for the post-2015 era. This chapter will focus on how science can guide Member States in establishing relevant target levels on deaths and economic losses caused by disasters based on existing scientific knowledge. It will also give an overview of selected new scientific solutions to addressing disaster risk.

Key questions to be addressed:

• How can science contribute to evidence-based target level setting on disaster risk reduction?
• How can policy-makers use findings from disaster risk scenarios?
• What are the emerging solutions that science can provide to address disaster risk?