Major progress has been made in preparing for natural disasters and climate impacts, but results vary by region, a report says
BANGKOK (AlertNet) - A new report by the United Nations’ agency on reducing disasters (UNISDR) provides a snapshot of how measures to reduce the risk of disasters, and programmes to adapt to the impacts of climate change, are undertaken and integrated in Asia Pacific.
At the crossroads: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in Asia and the Pacific aims to fill an information gap on how disaster risk and climate change programs are being carried out and how they interact, if at all.
The report notes that without such knowledge it will be difficult to develop the environment and roadmap necessary to integrate these two areas of practice, which are becoming increasingly intertwined as scientists predict a rise in frequency and intensity of natural disasters due to the changing climate.
Asia-Pacific is said to be the world’s most vulnerable region when it comes to natural disasters, in part because it is the most populous region.
Rapid urbanisation, lack of planning, poor infrastructure as well as inadequate waste management and drainage systems are also contributing to the increase in the number of people exposed to climate-related weather events.
While there has been major progress - spurred primarily by the adoption of Hyogo Framework for Action, a 10-year plan aimed at making the world safer from natural hazards - it has been uneven, the report said. It breaks down Asia Pacific into six sub-regions: Southeast Asia, South Asia, Pacific, Northeast Asia, West Asia and Central Asia.
The report credits active regional-level institutions for much of the progress, saying they have pushed smaller sub-regional groups to develop disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation plans.
Broad partnerships “have not always been seamless,” the report said, but they are “a step towards the right direction.”
What is now needed, the report said, is “greater coordination and synergy of efforts” to make the most of limited resources.
FACTS AND FIGURES
According to the report, during a 20-year period between 1991 and 2010, the Asia Pacific region implemented 233 programmes and projects on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, more than half of them in Southeast Asia. West and Central Asia registered the least number of regional initiatives.
However, in all regions, there are more disaster risk reduction programmes than climate change adaptation efforts, perhaps underlying the fact that disaster risk reduction focuses on existing threats, while climate change adaptation focuses on preparation for emerging or worsening threats.
Other key points included in the report include:
- Even though there are more projects on disaster risk reduction than climate adaptation, the number of regional climate activities have grown substantially in the last five years.
- About 60 percent of the disaster risk and climate projects were aimed at building a culture of safety and resilience through the use of knowledge, innovation and education.
- An overwhelming majority of the initiatives (79 percent) were aimed at strengthening the capacities of individuals and institutions to deal with disaster risks, including those that are climate-related. This reflects a strong focus on reducing vulnerability in the region.
- An overwhelming majority (83 percent) of projects were initiated by organisations, mainly bilateral and multilateral financing institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and World Bank. Only about 2 percent were undertaken as a result of national government actions.
- Central Asia, comprising mainly Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, is yet to find a solid regional mechanism for disaster risk reduction.
- While each country in East Asia has a significant commitment to disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, there is no intergovernmental organization in the region to take a regional lead.
- Little coordination and cooperation between two regional intergovernmental organisations in the Pacific resulted in missed opportunities to reduce risk and build resilience.
- Prolonged conflicts in the region have impeded West Asia’s efforts to create a single regional organisation.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
