UNDRR News

The Pacific region today challenged itself to make disaster risk reduction everybody’s business and convert one of the main calls for action of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction into an everyday reality.

Pacific countries have pledged to step up efforts to deal with the challenge posed by climate change and the threat of disasters, in order to ensure that their development is sustainable.

The Pacific region today recommended the development of national and regional targets and indicators as a key element to the successful implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström, today opened the 2015 Pacific Regional Disaster Resilience Meeting amidst fears that El Niño will result in more extreme weather events across the hazard-prone region of small islands and atolls.

The Pacific region today was urged to use its respected voice on the global stage to rally against complacency over the mounting level of disaster and climate related risk.

A high level disaster resilience forum in the Pacific next week will have added importance as concerns grow over the potential impact on the region of this year’s El Niño.

The Pacific Region has a wealth of traditional knowledge for disaster risk reduction. It is rarely advertised or documented, but passed on by word of mouth from generation to generation. One striking example came to light after one of the worst cyclones this year.

Cyclone Pam’s devastation of Vanuatu provided a real-time example of the relevance of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk as it was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, in Japan, almost six months ago.

Disaster risk reduction is at the center of a raft of commitments and actions in the outcome document officially adopted today at the conclusion of the four days of the International Conference on Small Island Developing States in Samoa. The outcome document is titled SAMOA – SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action – Pathway.

“I am not a leading expert but a leading victim in the issue of climate change. Sea level rise is already happening and what is happening in my island, it is not only a problem for all SIDS but for all of us as more than 75 per cent of the world population lives close to coastal areas,” said Anote Tong, President of Kiribati, when he opened the second Stakeholder Partnership dialogue on Climate Change and Disaster Management yesterday at the UN Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Samoa.