ENVIRONMENT: Quick Action Planned Over Early Warning

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ramesh Jaura

BONN, Mar 26 2006 (IPS) - Former U.S. president Bill Clinton will address a global conference Monday in Bonn stressing the need for imbibing a ‘culture of prevention’ to minimise the damage and misery caused by natural and man-made disasters.

Some 1,000 experts from governments, international organisations, civil society groups and the scientific community are expected to participate in the gathering called the Third International Conference on Early Warning (EWC III).

Clinton will address the conference in his capacity as UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.

The earthquake off the coast of Sumatra Dec. 26 2004 and the tsunami that it triggered, and a subsequent earthquake in the same region in March claimed the lives of over 223,492 people across 12 countries and caused damage estimated at more than 10 billion dollars.

A statement issued by Clinton’s office said the former U.S. president “will urge all actors to commit themselves to implementing risk reduction measures and accelerate the necessary shift towards a ‘culture of prevention’.”

Clinton will point to the critical contribution of early warning in such efforts and update participants on progress towards a multi-hazard early warning system in the Indian Ocean, the statement said.

One of the key lessons of the Indian Ocean tsunami is that early warning saves lives, the statement by issued the Office Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery said. “Thousands of lives and millions of dollars could have been saved had an adequate early warning system been in place in the region prior to the disaster.”

The conference Mar. 27 to 29 in the German city that served as the capital of West Germany until unification of the two Germanys 15 years ago is hosted by the German government in coordination with the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

Bonn is now home to 12 organisations of the UN system and six federal ministries of the German government, including the ministries of economic cooperation, and development and environment, despite the seat of government and parliament having moved to Berlin.

The Bonn conference will be inaugurated by Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Not only the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in December 2004 but also the devastating hurricane season in the Caribbean in the summer of 2005, the tragic earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan and India in October, and many other dramatic events have reminded the world of the crucial importance of efficient early warning systems.

As one of the most effective instruments of disaster reduction, early warning is a critical element to prevent hazardous events from turning into disasters, says Egeland in a briefing note for the media.

Hans Joachim Daerr, Director-General at the German Foreign Ministry told media representatives that the EWC III was purported to move from concepts of early warning to concrete actions.

This would involve:

1. A checklist of actions illustrated by good practices to assist countries in developing effective, people-centred early warning systems.

This will list key elements and actions that national governments or community organisations can refer to when developing new early warning systems, evaluating existing arrangements or simply checking that crucial procedures are in place.

A selection of practical examples and case studies, drawn from the conference and from the broader community, will be used throughout the document to illustrate key points.

The checklist is not intended to be a comprehensive design manual, but instead will be a practical, non-technical reference tool to ensure that the major elements of a good early warning system are in place.

2. A catalogue of early warning projects that results from the call for proposals and the project-oriented approach chosen for the conference itself.

The catalogue will include all projects that have been retained by the review group and considered as useful for the development of early warning.

It will be circulated at the conference to trigger donor interest for funding purposes, and after the conference will be administered by the Platform for Promotion of Early Warning (PPEW), as a part of its regular functions.

3. A document on the proceedings of the conference will include the presentations of abstracts submitted to the Technical and Scientific Symposium that have been selected for oral and poster presentation by the scientific review committee.

This will contain crucial findings and recommendations by scientists and practitioners on future emerging issues in early warning, including on new dimensions in mega events, multi-hazard approaches and people-centred early warning approaches.

4. The EWC III will also host the launch of the Global Survey of Early Warning Systems and will provide a prime opportunity to consider its recommendations and plan concrete implementation actions.

The three-day EWC III (EWC’98) follows the International Conference on Early Warning Systems for the Reduction of Natural Disasters that took place in 1998 in the historic German city of Potsdam, and emphasised early warning as a core component of national and international prevention strategies for the 21st century.

The (EWC’98) was followed by the Second International Conference on Early Warning in Bonn in October 2003, building upon principles developed at the Potsdam conference through the identification of emerging new threats.

In 2004, the ISDR secretariat, with the support of the German Government, created in Bonn the Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning to lead the international community in developing early warning and preparedness.

The International Early Warning Programme (IEWP) was launched at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe, Japan, in January 2005 against the backdrop of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, underlining the importance of understanding risks and enhancing early warning to reduce disasters.