UNDRR News

It's one of the world's greatest cultural attractions. About 20 million tourists pour through its streets each year and travel its waterways. Venice, Italy, sits at sea level, and any changes in the mean sea level leaves the city open to floods, endangering the artistic and cultural heritage of this 1,000-year old UNESCO world heritage site.

Disaster risk is now a key factor influencing the way corporations look at living standards, particularly when structuring compensation packages for expatriate employees.

Ten years after the first Funds were established to support adaptation activities in developing countries, the world, and Africa in particular, is waiting to see if a deal can be brokered this weekend at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban which would amount to a quantum leap in the finance available to reduce disaster risk in countries bearing the brunt of climate change.

While good news remains in short supply from the main climate change talks here in Durban, there is a growing sense that local government is taking the lead on mitigation and adaptation without waiting for their central governments to direct their efforts.

The President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, told a major forum at the COP17 talks in Durban yesterday that ”failing to fund climate change is failing to fund poverty reduction.”

UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, told an exclusive gathering of 35 eminent scientists and politicians from around the world at the COP 17 in Durban that "there is a huge need to translate the best science on climate change into practical action."

According to a new UNISDR policy brief launched today at the Durban COP 17, although African countries are committed to reducing flood and drought risks, current investments are found to be wanting, particularly in development sectors.

Parliamentarians from around the world gathered in Durban, South Africa, yesterday to press for progress in the COP17 climate change negotiations and called on the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) "to prioritize disaster risk reduction and capacity building as cross-cutting issues and to give them the utmost attention."

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today welcomed the Durban Climate Change Adaptation Charter for Local Government agreed yesterday by Mayors from around the world as "the best possible start to a critical week in the life of this planet when we so urgently need real leadership on mitigation and adaptation.

The Durban Climate Change Adaptation Charter for Local Government adopted yesterday was hailed by UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlstrom, as "the best possible start to a critical week in the life of this planet when we so urgently need real leadership on mitigation and adaptation."