i~Head:Tells Kobe Meeting on Disaster Reduction
KOBE, Japan, Jan. 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- Natural disasters exert an enormous toll on socio-economic growth and development in the developing world. They pose a significant threat to prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, warned Zephirin Diabre, UN Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), speaking at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe (http://www.unisdr.org/wcdr).
"It may seem counter-intuitive to some-but certain development policies and programs actually generate new disaster risks," said Mr. Diabre.
In his address today to the opening of the High Level Round Table, Mr. Diabre emphasized the need to recognize the complex relationship between disaster and development. Citing a recent UNDP publication, "Reducing Disaster Risk: A Challenge for Development," he identified four key insights from UNDP's work: a) disasters can wipe out decades of development gains; b) disaster looses interact with and aggravate other development related stresses and shocks; c) it is the poor and marginalized who suffer disproportionately from the impact of disaster; and d) development along does not make people less vulnerable to disaster -- rather it is the development paths taken by individuals, communities and nations that determine whether disaster risk is reduced or increased.
Mr. Diabre asserted that UNDP, as the lead UN development agency, would work with development partners to help governments "disaster proof" their development initiatives by incorporating disaster risk reduction and management into their development strategies. He called on all participants to recognize that disaster risk is a global problem requiring global solutions and to join UNDP in collectively addressing the challenges.
Over 4,000 representatives from states around the world are meeting to review the implementation of the Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action (http://www.undp.org/bcpr/disred/documents/miscellanous/yokohamastrategy .pdf), which was adopted at the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction in 1994 (http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/49/a49r022.htm).
The conference is expected to motivate and guide governments and policy makers to pay more attention to identifying practical and concrete ways to incorporate disaster risk reduction into poverty alleviation and development strategies. This will be crucial for achieving the MDGs (http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/) and sustainable human development. The conference will also raise awareness of the urgency to focus on the vulnerable, taking into account community needs to address disaster risk, as well as emphasize action at global, regional, national and local levels for the development of a culture of prevention. The meeting comes at a crucial time as the international community is making decisions about how to respond to the tsunami disaster in Asia.
UNDP currently supports capacity building programmes for disaster risk management in over 40 countries in Africa, Arab States, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and the CIS as well as post-disaster recovery plans and operations in over 30 countries. It also administers the UN Inter-agency Disaster Management Training Programme (DMTP).
For further information, please contact:
Nicholas Gouede in New York: nicholas.gouede@undp.org or +1-212-906 6801; or
Angelika Planitz in Kobe: angelika.planitz@undp.org or +81-8010031732; or
Cherie Hart in Bangkok: cherie.hart@undp.org or+662 288 2133
UNDP is the United Nations worldwide development
network. It advocates change and provides countries with
access to the knowledge, skills and resources their
populations need to improve their lives.
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