In January 2005, 10 years from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in Kobe.

On this occasion, the project ‘Natural Disaster Youth Summit’ was launched by communicating with 1,000 children from 15 countries.  It aimed to host "Natural Disaster Youth Summit 2005 in Hyogo" for handing down the lessons from the disaster and the importance of human lives.

In the conference, the children created a declaration statement of "Try to feel, try to learn, try to share" and made the foundation of the global disaster prevention education network.

In the 21 century, classrooms in the world are connected and children can learn  the lessons of the past disasters in the world. They share the wisdom of disaster prevention of various countries and regions. The lessons are learned to protect life and to work to reduce disaster risk.

As the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, the importance of disaster prevention and mitigation of the region has been reviewed again. 

In March 2015, the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in Sendai. In the conference, it was recognized that a better reconstruction is important in the recovery process.

The NDYS2017 conference will have an opportunity to present the results the final phase of the NDYS2017 project under the theme of “Climate change and Disaster Reduction, Mitigation and Reconstruction of our town” through global collaborative Active-learning utilizing ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in Morocco.

The purpose of this conference is to let the NDYS school children to present their research about disasters in their home countries and introduce their disaster safety maps.  This will give them a chance to recognize what they have learned through making disaster safety maps and researching their local area. 

In addition, they will think of some of the abnormal weather models that are happening because of climate change, then they will explores the resolution for the abnormal weather and climate change by discussing what they can do. 

Also, children will suggest some ideas for healing the emotional damage of natural disasters through experiencing music exchange with Taisho Koto, traditional Japanese musical instrument, which makes the children understand the importance of caring. 

The participants will notice the difference of each culture through their communication, presentation and Disaster Safety Maps during the conference. They will deepen their understanding by hearing the different point of views and experiencing different cultures. 

In the plenary session, children will adopt the NDYS declaration and announce to the world, the importance of recognizing the differences of generations and cultures. 
The conference aims to foster children to be aware of disaster reduction and to be a global citizen who can act spontaneously and survive in the rapidly changing society.