The goal of the workshop was to create an understanding of the links between environmental legislation and environmental disaster management: the various elements of disaster management - prevention, preparedness, response and mitigation - had legislative and regulatory consequences and requirements which concerned all those sections of the Government, the local community and the other relevant agencies which had roles to play in the event of a disaster. For all those elements of disaster management to be effective, they must be incorporated into strong legal and institutional frameworks at national, subregional, regional and global levels.