ENVIRONMENT: UN Conference Stresses Need Of Disaster Reduction

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Jaya Ramachandran

BONN, Germany, Oct 18 2003 (IPS) - The impacts of disasters across the globe have grown rapidly over the past three decades, with thousands of fatalities, hundreds of millions of people affected and tens of billions of dollars of losses.

Developing countries are disproportionately affected, with losses sometimes exceeding a year or more of hard-won and desperately needed economic development.

Recognising the negative effects of calamities on social and economic development and the environment, participants of an international conference have agreed to integrate disaster reduction measures into sustainable development policies and action plans.

A statement issued Saturday at the conclusion of the three-day Second International Conference on Early Warning (EWC-II) in Bonn said the participants had decided to define clear targets and responsibilities to reduce the negative impacts of hazards during 2004-2015.

The document emerging from the Oct. 16-18 meet comprises a series of elements that need to be taken into account for an effective early warning system, based on real-life examples and good practices, to be disseminated to local and national leaders worldwide.

Such elements will respond to the needs and constraints in the application of effective early warning systems with a special focus on developing country needs.

The conference, joined by some 350 government officials and experts, was hosted by the Government of Germany under the auspices of the United Nations and supported by the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR).

The EWC II was built upon regional consultations and workshops undertaken by key partners and national institutions. These took place in Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya and Germany between May and July this year.

"Considering the increasing number of human and economic losses resulting from disasters, it is vital that the world’s leaders take action towards better preparing and protecting communities from imminent hazards," said ISDR Director Sálvano Briceño.

"This means minimising risk by taking active steps to mitigate and, where possible, prevent disasters from happening in the first place," he told media representatives.

"As a key element of any disaster reduction strategy, early warning will bring us closer to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals", said Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, addressing the conference.

"It is important that policy-makers are aware of the potential of early warnings issued by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and that such warnings are appropriately integrated in disaster mitigation strategies and policies," said Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

WMO’s unique operational system enables the issuance of timely early warnings of natural hazards, based on increasingly accurate forecasts with longer lead times and ensures that the corresponding warnings are available to all nations, irrespective of their level of development.

Stressing the significance of disaster reduction strategies, ISDR said last year’s catastrophic floods in Europe had caused losses of nearly 20 billion dollars.

Since June 2003 alone, flooding in South-western Sri Lanka left approximately 300 dead, displaced some 200,000 persons and caused heavy economic damage.

A pre-monsoon heat wave in India and equally damaging heat waves in Europe were the cause of over 20,000 casualties. Flooding in Ethiopia and western Kenya displaced more than 160,000 people. Increased cases of hepatitis and leptospirosis in Argentina were associated with flooding.

The importance of early warning was recognised in Earth Summit’s Agenda 21 approved 1992 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), in multilateral environmental agreements, and the Barbados Plan of Action for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of 1994.

At the very start of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) 1990-1999 special attention was given to the importance of early warning systems.

In 1994 the Yokohama World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction adopted guidelines and objectives for all countries to reduce their vulnerability and progress towards an integrated approach to managing disaster risk.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) September last year called for a greater commitment to include disaster and risk reduction, especially the development and strengthening of early warning systems and information networks, within the sustainable development policies and action plans.

Also the International Conference on Freshwater in Bonn in December 2001 identified early warning systems as an integral part of water resources development and planning as a priority area for action.

The Marrakech Accords adopted at the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP7) to the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) last year also call for the strengthening and, where needed, the establishment of early warning systems.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has established a specific working group on early warning from its Committee on Science and Technology.