Voting leaders determined to reduce disaster risk – UN

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The head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has called on the citizens of UN member countries to demand from their leaders that they commit to putting in place in place sustainable development policies that take into account risks.

Mami Mizutori also calls on citizens to ensure the implementation of the Sandai Framework to save lives and save infrastructure by mitigating impending and impending disasters.

"I do not think the role of DRR is to punish countries that do not implement the Sandai framework," she answered questions after the launch of the 2019 Global Assessment Report. in Geneva, Switzerland.

She stated that it is the citizens of member countries who have the responsibility to ensure that their leaders put such a measure in place for their own safety.

"The voters in this country who are responsible must elect a government that will prioritize disaster risk reduction in the treatment phase," she said.

According to the report, "Development can be a major factor of disaster risk when it results in the location of populations and economic badets in exposed geographical areas; the accumulation of risks in urban areas due to rapid and unplanned developments, when it puts undue pressure on natural resources and ecosystems, and when it exacerbates social inequalities if income generation opportunities for certain population groups are reduced. "

It emphasizes that "risk should be seen as a normal and inseparable part of economic activities and development, as part of particular development trajectories and practices, constructed through day-to-day decisions made by those concerned with particular development models. Disaster risk is therefore a social construct conditioned by the perceptions, needs, demands, decisions and practices of each society.

In the area of ​​climate change risks, the report explicitly states that "current national commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate global warming under the Paris Agreement" will not keep global warming below 2 ° C above pre-industrial levels, leave only the preferred containment at 1.5 ° C.

If this occurs, future hydrometeorological risk extremes would greatly exceed current knowledge and alter the loss and damage equations and fragility curves of almost all known human and natural systems, placing them at unknown risk levels.

It also means that it is no longer enough to tackle adaptation independently of development planning and that sustainable socio-economic development, by definition, must include warming mitigation. planetary ".

The report concludes that & # 39; & # 39; Taking a broader and more nuanced approach to understanding the interaction of threats, hazards and shocks reflects the increasing shift towards systemic thinking, combating complex risks and uncertainty.

In many ways, the disaster risk reduction community is at the forefront, as is the case with the introduction of GRAF.

This will require the adoption of "risk-based principles of good practice in development", such as inclusive and transparent, progressive and iterative, flexible and adaptive, continuous and learning and reflection approaches.

"Making development choices that support development paths that leverage the benefits to reduce complex risks, avoid risk creation and better manage residual risks, must be the way forward."