Csaba Kőrösi, President of the 77th session of the General Assembly
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Launch of the UNDRR exhibition “Disasters Are Not Natural”
(As delivered)
Madam DSG, Dear Amina,
Madam USG, Dear Melissa,
Madam SRSG, Dear Mami,
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to imagine, together with you, a disaster-resilient world.
Let me acknowledge the curator of the exhibit, Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat.
I want to thank her and the artists Mary Mattingly of the United States, Søren Dahlgaard of Denmark, and Firoz Mahmud of Bangladesh, who are with us tonight .
I am grateful to them for focusing our collective gaze on what is possible.
Whether through the Waterpod, a self-sufficient habitat built from New York City’s waste chain,
The Inflatable Island, travelling around the world to raise awareness about climate refugees,
The Soaked Dreams photo-sculpture series, capturing the hopes of communities displaced by disaster,
Or the Common Dreams floating school, challenging us to rethink our notions of survival and adaptation.
You – and the other artists whose works are on display – are inviting us to be provoked.
To connect with the critical issues. And to transform.
I, for one, accept your challenge, with a determination to succeed.
We are here, at the Midterm Review, to reinforce our understanding of the risks.
To prevent or, at least, to manage them in ways that are smart for people and planet.
Your works present us with a startling opportunity to engage.
They remind us that, in this Anthropocene era, disaster risk reduction is about more than frameworks and negotiations.
It is about children, families, older persons and others whose lives are being upended by floods, cyclones, drought, desertification and sea-level rise – while we are in safety here.
It is about building on – and connecting – the gains made in areas such as data collection and analysis so we can reduce people’s exposure and vulnerability to harm.
It is true there will be disasters we cannot prevent.
But we can move away from short-term reactions towards long-term, proactive thinking about risk management.
We can invest more in prevention and place people at the core of all we do to realize the Sustainable Development Goals.
Through the Sendai Framework, we are empowered to deliver.
As we gather under a model of the Sputnik, we are surrounded by examples of human achievement.
Let us take our cue from the visionaries who tackled the perceived impossibilities of their days.
And let us listen to the wise words said by Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
I thank you.
