As G8 convenes in Germany, the UN meets next door to discuss disaster risk
Climate change will worsen the impact of disasters on millions of the world’s most vulnerable people unless more urgent preventative action is taken by governments, the UN 3rd World Conference on Disaster Reduction (June 5-7) in Geneva, will hear this week.
As G8 leaders meet in Germany to debate global climate change, a coalition of relief and development agencies will warn 600 delegates to the UN Disaster Reduction Conference in Switzerland that unsustainable development is causing climate change that in turn is increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, and that governments must do more to assist the growing numbers of people affected by them.
The aid agencies state that not enough progress has been made in boosting vulnerable communities’ and countries’ resilience to disasters since the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Kobe, Japan, 2005, which agreed the ‘Hyogo Framework for Action, 2005-2015’.
The NGOs, including Christian Aid, Tearfund, Action Aid, Practical Action & Plan, state: “With G8 leaders meeting a day’s drive up the road in Heiligendamm, we have a rare opportunity to simultaneously confront politicians from those same G8 countries, and many others, to take more action to reduce disaster risk and vulnerability faced by millions of people around the world.
“Governments – whether at the G8 debating global temperatures, or at the UN discussing disasters - have a moral obligation to take tough and long-lasting action this week."
Criticisms of governments to be raised by NGOs this week in Geneva include:
- Whilst progress has been made at the macro policy level, this has not yet translated into building communities’ resilience to disasters at the scale required to address the size of the problem
- Failure by developed nations to assist developing nations access to sufficient funding and technical assistance to help communities adapt to climate change
- Continued weak co-operation and lack of joint actions between governments and local communities
- Failure to develop clear targets and benchmarks at the local level in support of the above
Speaking for the coalition, Marcus Oxley said: “This conference is a unique opportunity for governments to make a lasting difference. While the aid agencies will continue to make the most of the resources they have available, much more can be achieved if governments implement the Hyogo Framework for Action drawn up two years ago in Kobe. But time is ticking away if the Hyogo Framework is to be achieved by 2015."