A/RES/59/231 non-governmental organizations and other partners, as appropriate, are considered essential to address effectively the impact of natural disasters; 9. Recognizes the importance of linking disaster risk management with regional frameworks, as appropriate, such as with the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, 5 to address issues of poverty eradication and sustainable development; 10. Also recognizes the importance of integrating a gender perspective as well as of engaging women in the design and implementation of all phases of disaster management, particularly in the disaster reduction stage; 11. Stresses the importance of identifying, assessing and managing risks prior to the occurrence of disasters, for which it is necessary to combine the efforts at all levels of the development, humanitarian, scientific and environmental communities, as well as the importance of integrating disaster reduction, as appropriate, into development plans and poverty eradication programmes; 12. Also stresses the need to foster better understanding and knowledge of the causes of disasters, as well as to build and strengthen coping capacities through, inter alia, the transfer and exchange of experiences and technical knowledge, access to relevant data and information and the strengthening of institutional arrangements, including community-based organizations; 13. Recognizes the importance of early warning as an essential element of disaster reduction, recommends the implementation of the outcome of the Second International Conference on Early Warning, held in Bonn, Germany, from 16 to 18 October 2003, and takes note of further work done in this regard, including the establishment of the Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning 6 in Bonn; 14. Calls upon Governments to establish national platforms or focal points for disaster reduction, encourages the platforms to share relevant information on standards and practices, encourages Governments to strengthen platforms where they already exist, urges the United Nations system to provide appropriate support for those mechanisms, and invites the Secretary-General to strengthen the regional outreach of the inter-agency secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in order to ensure such support; 15. Requests the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, in his capacity as Chairman of the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction, to continue reviewing annually the work carried out by its working groups in order to ensure their effective contribution to the attainment of the objectives of the Strategy; 16. Expresses its appreciation to those countries that have provided financial support for the activities of the Strategy by making voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; 17. Encourages the international community to provide the necessary financial resources to the Trust Fund for the Strategy and to provide the necessary scientific, technical, human and other resources to ensure adequate support for the activities of the inter-agency secretariat for the Strategy and the Inter-Agency Task Force for Disaster Reduction and its working groups; _______________ 5 6 A/57/304, annex. A/CONF.206/PC(II)/4, para. 14 (ix). 3