UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to open the latest session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction
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The Global Platform will be opened today by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will also launch a report entitled 2011 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction – Revealing risks, redefining development. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro will chair the forum in Geneva.
Leaders from across the world will gather to discuss and decide on the needed commitments and immediate actions on disaster risk reduction. The platform is the world’s foremost gathering of stakeholders committed to reducing disaster risk and building the resilience of communities and nations.
The theme of this year’s forum is "Invest today for a safer tomorrow: Increase investment in local action." More than 2,500 representatives from governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society and the private sector have already registered to attend.
An added dimension of the conference will be the World Reconstruction Conference, organized by the World Bank and the UN, at the same venue, and constitutes one of the main pillars of the Global Platform.
The Global Platform was established in 2007 as a biennial forum for information exchange and partnership building across sectors to improve the implementation of disaster risk reduction through better communication and coordination among stakeholders.