PH ‘ahead of the curve’ in disaster risk reduction — UN official

Metro Manila, Philippines — Philippine expertise in disaster risk reduction would be among the focus of a regional conference this week, with a United Nations (UN) official saying the country is “ahead of the curve” on the matter.

“I think the work that is being done in the Philippines can be a lighthouse to the rest of the region and in the world,” said Kamal Kishore, the special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction.

In a media reception on Monday, Oct. 14, Kishore said the country has a people-centered approach to policies, making sure these cascade to the community.

Kishore, head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), also said work across sectors is important in disaster mitigation.

“I think these things cannot be taken for granted in all parts of the world, but the Philippines exemplifies that through practice,” Kishore said. “So we don’t just talk about how vulnerable the Philippines is, but also how ahead of the curve the Philippines is in managing those risks.”

Vulnerable to extreme weather, the country hosts the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The biennial event will tackle regional progress on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

The framework “aims to achieve the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries.”

The Manila meet gathers over 4,000 delegates from 69 countries until Oct. 18.

“The capacity and the potential for regional and subregional cooperation is immense, and to a certain extent untapped,” Marco Toscano-Rivalta, chief of the UNDRR Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, said of the region’s knowledge and practices on disasters.

More work to do

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the country is traditionally open to regional and extra-regional partners for disaster risk reduction as “all our paradigms of seasonality or the seasons have gone out of the window.”

“Therefore, the convergence regionally and extra-regionally to find some specific common threat is very important,” he said.

The Philippines encounters an average of 20 storms yearly, but recent weather systems below tropical cyclone levels have dumped significant rains and flooded communities.

Environment Secretary Toni Yulo-Loyzaga disaster response should be adaptive.

“They need to be able to address shifting timelines, as we now of course experience rapid intensification of tropical cyclones,” she said.

“We can experience this cascading of risks across not just national systems but global systems in terms of their impacts,” Loyzaga added. “Policy spaces need to be opened up to address complexity.”

Teodoro the government is looking at “resilience mechanisms” in remote areas, as well as investing more on connectivity.

Loyzaga said the government is reviewing the convergence of the budgeting system to check its net impact on resilience and other development goals.

“The work on disaster risk reduction is no longer seen as a niche,” UNDRR head Kishore said. “The money we put for our resilience is not expenditure, it is investment, investment to the future.”

Topics in the ministerial conference include practical solutions in enhancing DRR financing, gender-responsive and inclusive disaster risk governance, and localization and urban and rural resilience.