Remarks by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly

26 May 2022

 

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,

Selamat pagi,Salam sejahtera bagi kita semua,Om Swastiastu,Namo Buddhaya,Salam kebajikan

 

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for the opportunity to address this plenary discussion on the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

I appreciate today’s theme, which looks beyond natural hazards and considers contemporary challenges facing our world, and the subsequent expanded scope of the Sendai Framework.

This is understandably quite timely, considering the two-year long pandemic that we have collectively endured.

While there will be many lessons to ascertain from the pandemic in the months and years to follow, what is abundantly clear is that our notions of risk and resilience must be expanded far beyond traditional areas.

COVID-19 placed, and continues to place, enormous pressure on health systems and social safety nets, and has underscored critical gaps in global supply chains, amongst other things. These are gaps that can be addressed as we move forward.

Dear friends,

As we recognize seven years of the Sendai Framework and look to next year’s midterm review, we would be wise to consider some context:

The annual occurrence of disasters has increased from an average of 90 to 100 between 1970 and 2000, to about 350 to 500 in the last 20 years.

If current trends continue, the number of disaster incidents may approach 600 annually by 2030.

For each of these occurrences there are lives lost; livelihoods eliminated or set back; and development gains erased.

Indeed, beyond the tragedies that ensue there are clear economic reasons to act.

Economic losses from disasters have more than doubled over the past three decades, reaching over $170 billion per year in the decade ending in 2020.

And, as is far too often the case, this has disproportionately affected countries in special situations, with low-income and lower middle-income countries losing on average 1% of their GDP annually compared to 0.1% and 0.3% in high-income and upper middle-income countries, respectively.

While those with the least to lose are in fact losing the most, the IPPCC notes that countries at all levels of development lack significant preparedness to manage the impact of future events

This paints a daunting picture for efforts to tackle poverty, provide food security, boost jobs and livelihoods, and ensure social support for all people.

How can those most vulnerable be expected to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals when gains are so quickly wiped away.

I would make two suggestions in this regard.

First, investments in disaster risk reduction must be exponentially increased, particularly in developing countries.

We must recognize that for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS, official development assistance continues to play a critical role in the budgets and programming of government partners, at all levels.

Despite this need, disaster specific funding constitutes a relatively small portion of ODA.

Of the nearly $1.2 trillion in ODA provided since 2010, slightly more than 10% (or about $133 billion) was related to disaster risk reduction. But just a little over $5 billion was allocated for pre-disaster risk prevention and preparedness, with the lion’s share of funding going towards post-disaster efforts, including relief, response, and recovery.

My friends, we are continuing to under-invest in disaster prevention and preparedness, choosing instead to pay much more after the fact, when the damage has been done and lives lost.

This makes no sense, morally or fiscally.

We must recommit to the principles of the Sendai Framework and dramatically increase our investments in disaster risk reduction, particularly prevention and preparedness, to ensure that vulnerabilities and exposure to all hazards are identified and addressed; that risks are known; and that capacities are strengthened.

Secondly, investments must be diversified and mainstreamed across all sectors to address the emerging risks that we are facing, which is very much in line with today’s theme on expanding the scope of the Sendai Framework.

If we have learned anything from COVID-19 it is that there is an urgent need to adopt multi-hazard disaster risk reduction strategies that span all sectors. This includes risks emanating from biological and health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

While we have seen impressive results in passing policies and laws around disaster risk reduction, as well as establishing disaster risk reduction entities, these continue to be focused on the more traditional threats.

This was highlighted in the recent Global Assessment Report on disaster risk reduction, which noted that governance systems are measuring and valuing the wrong things.

We cannot only measure our progress in terms of shelters built or early warning systems established. We must be more ambitious than that, more nuanced.

Going forward, we must weigh the costs of climate impacts on each and every sector and industry; we must look at the social benefits of building resilience in health, education, and citizen engagement; and we must consider the costs to biodiversity and ecosystems.

Though we will continue to face natural hazards, such as storms and droughts, and indeed these will only increase in frequency and severity as the climate crisis looms, we must recognize the need to expand our remit in building resilience.

As I stated at the opening of the GPDRR: every government agency, every budget, every programme, every private sector initiative, must be risk-informed and resilient.

Quite frankly, nothing should be given budgetary approval without clear and measurable markers on disaster risk reduction.

Linked to this, of course, is the need to expand and strengthen data systems to capture necessary information. Only with the right information in our hands can we ensure that policies and programmes are inclusive and risk-informed.

In this regard, I would point to the need to work with relevant stakeholders at the national level, particularly local communities and indigenous peoples, women, youth, and marginalized groups.

These constituents offer a reservoir of information and traditional, indigenous, and local knowledge and practices, as well as a space to assess information and understand how risks and impacts are actually felt at the community level.

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

In one year, the discussion on the midterm review of the Sendai Framework will take center stage in the General Assembly.

I encourage governments and stakeholders to renew commitment to the implementation of the Sendai Framework, and, in particular, to make every effort to mainstream risk reduction and resilience across the entirety of Agenda 2030.

We must recall, if it is not risk-informed, it is not sustainable.

On that note, I call on all stakeholders, including donors, the private sector, and UN entities and partners, to increase support to LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS, who continue to be deprived of sufficient support to meet their objectives under Sendai or the SDGs.

By pairing together the SDGs and Sendai, as well as the Paris Agreement, we can make progress on each of the frameworks concurrently and protect those investments in the process, ensuring they are not wiped away by the next storm, or the next virus.

My friends, I thank you again for the opportunity to join you today and I wish you an engaging and fruitful discussion.