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UN launches report on disaster risk reduction
A recent UN study, titled The 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, was launched regionally in Bali on Monday, identifying unplanned urban development, vulnerable livelihoods, declining ecosystems and climate change as drivers for exposing more people to rising natural hazard impacts
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A recent UN study, titled The 2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, was launched regionally in Bali on Monday, identifying unplanned urban development, vulnerable livelihoods, declining ecosystems and climate change as drivers for exposing more people to rising natural hazard impacts.
The global launch by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was conducted earlier in Bahrain on Sunday.
In the report's foreword, Ban said floods, droughts, storms, earthquakes, fires and other events, when combined with increasing urbanization, poor urban governance, vulnerable rural livelihoods and the decline of ecosystems, could lead to massive human misery and crippling economic losses.
The risks posed by climate change and rising sea levels carry added grave implications for how humans live in the future, the report read.
"While we cannot prevent natural phenomena such as earthquakes and cyclones, we can limit their impacts. The scale of any disaster is linked closely to past decisions taken by citizens and governments - or the absence of such decisions. Pre-emptive risk reduction is the key," he said in the foreword.
"Sound response mechanisms after the event, however effective, are never enough. I commend this important and impressive collaborative effort by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction *UNISDR* system to policymakers and all others involved in the essential quest to build a safer world."
Besides explaining in detail global risk from disaster, the report also proposes 20 points of an action plan to reduce risk, focusing on accelerating responses to climate change, and increasing economic resilience of small and vulnerable economies.
It also proposes the supporting of community initiatives, enhancing national and local governance, pushing for high-level development policy frameworks, and investing in sustainable disaster risk reduction measures.
As a follow-up to the report, organizers of the Bali event - ASEAN, the UNISDR and the World Bank - also announced their joint commitment to reduce disaster risk in Asia.
"Over the last 10 years, 85 percent of people affected by disasters worldwide have been in Southeast Asia and Asia. This is likely to increase with the impact of climate change," said John Roome, World Bank vice president for East Asia and the Pacific.
He added it was time for developing countries to focus on infrastructure development to avoid further losses after disasters; capacity building by different institutions and organizations for quick post-disaster response; and financing mechanisms for reconstruction funding.
"We, the World Bank, are ready to help in any way we can to reduce further risk of disaster," he said.
The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery - a partnership of the World Bank, the UN and major donor countries - has granted US$1.2 million for the 2007-2010 period.
"We are planning to top up to $6 million in grants by 2011," said Iwan Gunawan, the Facility's senior disaster management advisor for Indonesia.
The World Bank is in discussions with the Jakarta administration and Indonesian government on general lending for a dredging project for flood mitigation in the capital.
