OECD work on resilience important for DRR World Conference

The Head of UNISDR, Margareta Wahlstrom, has said that the OECD can have a “critical impact” on the preparatory work leading up the adoption of a new global framework for disaster risk reduction at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015. Speaking in advance of the adoption today by the OECD Annual Ministerial meeting of a new recommendation on risk governance, she said that the OECD has helped to reverse the perception that disasters are solely a problem for poor countries – a key overall achievement of actions inspired by the Hyogo Framework for Action adopted in 2005 by all UN member States. Ms. Wahlstrom told a press briefing in Paris yesterday: “Disasters are a significant problem for the richest part of the world and I think this is the work that the OECD is doing in really opening up this conversation and demonstrating what it means in economic, social and, in fact, political and stability terms.”

Italy: Venice Mayor seeks ban on cruise ships

A powerful State committee for safeguarding Venice will meet today in Rome for the first time in three years to consider a proposal from the Mayor of Venice and UNISDR Champion, Giorgio Orsoni, to ban large cruise ships from sailing past the city’s most famous landmarks including the Piazza San Marco and the Doge’s Palace. Created under a special law for Venice, the Comitatone– the Committee of Policy, Coordination and Control –has been convened by the new Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, at the request of Mayor Orsoni who is concerned that the continuing use of the historic waterway by cruise ships which carry thousands of passengers poses an unnecessary hazard to the city.

UNISDR welcomes new urban resilience partnership

Medellín - UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström today welcomed the creation of a new partnership between nine key players in the global effort to build urban resilience to disasters and to strengthen the social, economic and environmental fabric of the world’s urban spaces. Ms. Wahlström said: “There has been a tremendous outpouring of support for urban resilience in recent years. This new collaboration represents a consolidation of those efforts as we prepare for an explosion of urbanization in the 21st century, when more urban space will be created than at any time in history. Over half the world’s population now lives in urban areas and this will grow dramatically in the coming generation. We must prepare for it.”

IBM AND AECOM JOIN UN CAMPAIGN TO MAKE CITIES RESILIENT

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) is working with IBM(NYSE: IBM), and global planning, design and engineering firm AECOM to measure cities’ resilience to disasters.The first fruit of the partnership is an innovative Disaster Resilience Scorecard created for use by members of UNISDR’s “Making Cities Resilient” campaign which has been running now for almost four years.The scorecard is based on the Campaign’s Ten Essentials – UNISDR’s list of top priorities for building urban resilience to disasters — and has been developed by IBM and AECOM. A list of potential cities is being developed to test the scorecard and to support their disaster resilience planning.

PHILIPPINES LEADS ON UN DISASTER-SAFE SCHOOLS INITIATIVE

The Philippines publically committed to be a role model for safe schools and deliver a strong message to the 2015 World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015 on the importance of protecting school children and students in their education environment.The disaster-prone nation will draw on lessons from the devastating Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 to be a country champion for the Worldwide Initiative for Safe Schools, launched by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).Typhoon Haiyan destroyed or damaged almost 4,000 schools prompting the President of the Philippines to issue specific instructions on infrastructure standards for safe schools both in terms of earthquakes and typhoons.

New report calls for attention to abrupt impacts from climate change, emphasizes need for early warning system

Climate change has increased concern over possible large and rapid changes in the physical climate system, which includes the Earth's atmosphere, land surfaces, and oceans.  Some of these changes could occur within a few decades or even years, leaving little time for society and ecosystems to adapt.  A new reportfrom the National Research Council extends this idea of abrupt climate change, stating that even steady, gradual change in the physical climate system can have abrupt impacts elsewhere -- in human infrastructure and ecosystems for example -- if critical thresholds are crossed.  The report calls for the development of an early warning system that could help society better anticipate sudden changes and emerging impacts."Research has helped us begin to distinguish more imminent threats from those that are less likely to happen this century," said James W.C. White, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and chair of the committee that wrote the report.  "Evaluating climate changes and impacts in terms of their potential magnitude and the likelihood they will occur will help policymakers and communities make informed decisions about how to prepare for or adapt to them."

UN SETS THE STAGE FOR ADOPTION OF A NEW GLOBAL AGREEMENT ON DISASTER RISK IN 2015

The United Nations General Assembly has set the stage for a new global agreement on reducing the impact of disasters by confirming that the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction will take place in Sendai City, Japan from 14 to 18 March 2015. The main item on the Conference agenda is agreement on a successor to the Hyogo Framework for Action which was adopted at the last such Conference in 2005 within weeks of the Indian Ocean tsunami and which was attended by representatives from 168 UN Member States. Over 8,000 people are expected to attend the 2015 event including heads of State, government ministers, parliamentarians, academics, NGO and other civil society representatives.UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström said: “The 3rd World Conference provides us with a rare opportunity to forge universal agreement on how to build disaster resilience across all sectors of society. It is particularly important that we have a strong urban focus as we expect 75% of the world’s population to be living in towns and cities by 2050.” Sendai City is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture in the Tōhoku region with a population of one million people. In March 2011, it was one of the cities affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, which killed over 15,000 people and is one of the costliest disasters in history. Ms. Emiko Okuyama, the Mayor of Sendai City, today unveiled the Conference logo. She said: “This logo was designed by a local designer and represents people joining hands to create a chain of action. The five colours stand for the five priorities of Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015): Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters which brought the concept of resilience into the mainstream of development thinking. We look forward to hosting the Conference and to welcoming the world to the Tohoku region which has made a strong recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.”


 

 

UNISDR newsletter: issue 19

Evidence of September/October 2013

This newsletter highlights UNISDR activities around the world. This issue reports on: (i) the results of the first-ever UN global survey of persons living with disabilities on how they cope with disasters; (ii) the Millions Tweet for International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR); (iii) the Philippine Resilience Award; (iv) Cyclone Phalin, disaster risk reduction and saved lives in India; (v) the need to better capture investments in disaster risk reduction; (vi) IPCC climate report; (vii) Finland’s review of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA); (viii) the declaration of state of emergency in bush fire zones of New South Wales, Australia; (ix) the progress made in reducing disaster impacts across Europe; and (x) the presentation of the Damir Čemerin Award for Local Change to Dr Ilan Kelman.

Disaster-proof development - Margareta Wahlström

Over the last three decades, economic losses associated with natural disasters like floods, storm surges, hurricanes, and droughts have risen in lockstep with the steady climb in global temperatures. Data from a growing number of governments suggest that, so far this century, such losses have amounted to around $2.5 trillion. And, as the latest report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns, the worst is yet to come.

UNISDR training puts DRR top of the news

A global initiative to increase coverage of disaster risk reduction issues in the media culminated last week in the Pacific. ECHO and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) jointly organized the series of workshops, which has trained more than 100 journalists from 45 countries. An intensive two-day forum in Suva, Fiji, was the final event of the series, which also included trainings in Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Switzerland. Ms Makereta Komai from the Pacific Islands News Association was one of the 10 reporters from the Pacific who explored how to cover disasters from different perspectives. In May, as part of the programme, Ms Komai covered the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva and wrote more than 20 articles during the four-day event.“The media have fewer and fewer resources and are more and more constrained to work under heavy pressure. Here in Fiji, most of the journalists are not specialized but are required to cover all kinds of issues,” Ms Komai said.