POSTPONED: Turbocharging Resilience in LDCs to Achieve the Doha Programme of Action: A Roadmap for Risk Reduction

Date: Postponed (New Date TBC) 

                                                                          Side Event at the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
 

The case for risk-informed development in the LDCs
Reducing disaster risk and building resilience remain unfinished business of the Istanbul Programme of Action. As many least developed countries (LDCs) face an increasingly complex risk landscape, the impacts of disasters continue to undermine hard-won progress towards sustainable development. The devastating impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and the climate emergency demonstrate how the systemic nature of risk and the cascading impacts of disasters affect every facet of society and economies in the LDCs, from agricultural and industrial development, to human mobility and urbanization, as well as food security and the provision of basic services. For some LDCs, disaster risk is further compounded by protracted humanitarian crisis and conflict dynamics.

LDCs are disproportionately affected by the impacts of disasters. According to data for 2020 reported by countries in the Sendai Framework Monitor, LDCs reported 26 per cent of people with livelihoods disrupted or destroyed by disasters, even though they account for 15 per cent of the total population of countries reporting. Moreover, while LDCs account for 4 per cent of GDP of countries reporting, they suffered 10 per cent of the reported economic losses and 6 per cent of the reported destruction or damage to critical infrastructure.

A recent UN report finds that vulnerability to disasters is a long-standing structural impediment to sustainable development and that long-ignored risks have heightened vulnerabilities across social, economic, and environmental systems in the LDCs. This is evidenced by the fact that most LDCs graduate from the category with high levels of economic and environmental vulnerability. It is clear that many LDCs may not achieve their development goals without urgent action to reduce existing disaster risk and that sustainable graduation requires adopting economic and development pathways that avoid the creation of new risk. Countries need to design systems, including infrastructure, trade, supply chains, economic, financial, food and public health systems, that are risk-informed and resilient against current and future shocks and hazards.

What needs to be done
During the decade of the Istanbul Programme of Action, LDCs made progress on important aspects of disaster risk reduction (DRR), particularly in the areas of preparedness and response. However, critical gaps remain in terms of risk reduction and prevention. Through the preparatory process of the LDC-5 Conference, the LDCs have reconfirmed their commitment to DRR and identified key areas for further support and resources. The Regional Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction2, convened in November 2021, also identified key entry points that can support DRR and resilience-building in the LDCs.

Aligned with the priority areas of the Sendai Framework, these include:

i) capacity support to strengthen risk governance, including the development of inclusive national and local DRR strategies, supported by legislation and regulations, and the implementation of a comprehensive approach to risk management across development, climate, and humanitarian action;
ii) access to financing for prevention and risk reduction, including support for resilient infrastructure, risk-informed public finance, and de-risking investments;
iii) technical support and transfer of technology for the collection of disaster loss and damage data and the conduct of multi-hazard risk assessments combined with capacity development to apply disaster risk information in policy and investment decisions;
iv) strengthening of multi-hazard early warning systems that lead to early action and supported by risk-informed social protection measures.

Now more than ever, LDCs need coordinated technical and financial support from the international community that is tailored to their specific contexts and development objectives. However, the COVID-19 crisis has constrained already limited fiscal space for investing in prevention and risk reduction while official development assistance has not kept pace with needs. A recent UNDRR report3 finds that only 0.5% of the total amount of disaster-related international assistance is allocated to prevention and risk reduction. Detracted by perceived and real risks, private sector foreign direct investment, critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building resilience, remains sparce. To break the cycle of disaster, respond, recovery, and repeat, DRR must be embedded within national development strategies, sectoral budgets, and economic plans, including structural transformation and productive capacity development. Increased international support, including dedicated financing instruments, policy support, and capacity development are also urgently needed.

The opportunity
The Doha Programme of Action establishes a clear link with the implementation of the Sendai Framework which states that LDCs warrant special attention due to their particular vulnerability to disasters. The Programme of Action outlines key areas for integrating DRR, such as social protection, structural transformation, agricultural development, and resilient transportation infrastructure, as well as post-disaster and post-conflict reconstruction. It also includes DRR targets and commitments on (i) establishing national platforms and national strategies for DRR, strengthening multi-hazard early warning systems, (iii) strengthening national statistical and planning capacity on use of disaster risk and loss data; and (iv) enhancing public and private finance for risk reduction and resilience. The LDC graduation process is also an opportunity to ensure economic and development policy, and international support, prevent and reduce disaster risk. The Economic and Social Council4 has already recognized the importance of risk reduction for the graduation process and has called on all graduating countries to integrate DRR in their smooth transition strategies. The launch of the Sustainable Graduation Support Facility at the Conference is a further opportunity to enhance support to graduating countries for DRR.

The LDC-5 Conference and the adoption of the Doha Programme of Action is therefore an opportune moment to turbocharge resilience, to promote an approach to economic transformation and sustainable development in the LDCs that is aligned with the goal of the Sendai Framework to reduce existing risk and avoid the creation of new risk. This can be supported by a clear roadmap to implement the DRR and resilience-building elements of the Programme of Action over the next decade that capitalizes on and nurture home-grown solutions to reducing risk.

Objective and expected outcome of the side event
The side event will bring representative of LDC governments, the UN system, and private sector and civil society partners together to discuss the way forward to implement the DRR and resilience building commitments and targets outlined in the Doha Programme of Action. The event will inform the development of a roadmap to support the coordinated implementation of the risk-reduction and resilience building aspects of the Doha Programme of Action.

Discussions will centre on four strategic areas need to turbocharge resilience in the LDCs:

i) promoting capacity development on risk knowledge and risk data and analytics;

ii) policy and technical support on de-risking investments and advocating for increased financing and transfer of technology;

iii) promoting the integration of DRR in the LDC graduation process; and

iv) fostering a culture of risk-informed planning and comprehensive risk management in all sectors, including raising ambition for risk-informed climate change adaptation.

Speakers will identify good practices as well as policy, capacity and resource gaps that must be addressed to ensure the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action supports resilient and risk-informed development in the LDCs.

Guiding questions
1. How can risk-informed decision making and planning be embedded into development and economic policies and plans in the LDCs, including key areas such as structural transformation, commodity diversification, and productive capacity development, to ensure resilience to current and future shocks and hazards?

2. What are the barriers to financing risk reduction and prevention in the LDCs? What innovative solutions exist to ensure domestic public and private sector financing in all sectors contributes to reducing risk and building resilience. What is needed to create an enabling environment to attract foreign direct investment to support risk reduction and resilience building in the LDCs?

3. What type of technical support and capacity development do the LDCs need in order to deepen understanding of disaster risk and adopt a comprehensive approach to risk management that promotes the integration of risk reduction into sustainable development, climate change adaptation, and humanitarian action?

4. How can inter-institutional risk governance be strengthened in specific contexts of the LDCs? What role can legislation and regulations play to reduce the creation of risk more effectively in all sectors?

5. How can the risk reduction aspects of the Doha Programme of Action be taken forward in conjunction with the Sendai Framework, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the New Urban Agenda to strengthen policy coherence and more effective use of resources?
 

Opening Remarks
Keynote Speaker 
Video
Panel Discussion 

• The national perspective
• The offer of support from the international community