Bangkok--11 Jun--UNISBKK
Disaster trends are on the rise and weather-related disasters are already increasing, as shown in the recently published Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Risk and Poverty in a Changing Climate. The Global Humanitarian Forum’s Human Impact Study, launched at the end of May, reveals that some 300,000 deaths are already caused by global warming every year — and the total is rising.
Over 1,500 participants from almost 300 Government and regional/national organisations will gather in Geneva next week for the Second Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP09) to discuss how they can engage more resources and capacities to reduce the current disaster trends.
The Global Platform is the main biennial forum on disaster risk reduction bringing together a wide cross-section of the world’s disaster risk reduction community, including heads of state, senior ministers, UN agencies, NGOs, scientific and technical experts, and others.
Under the slogan Invest Today for a Safer Tomorrow, the event will focus on the linkages between climate change adaptation, poverty and disaster risk reduction and will call on governments to invest more in disaster risk reduction measures.
The Chair’s Summary session will draw on deliberations at the Platform to deliver a series of recommendations for action that will shape the global disaster risk reduction agenda for the coming two years and beyond.
The main highlights include:
Opening Ceremony presided by John Holmes, United Nations
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator, and Convener of the Global Platform and Keynote Speakers:
Mr. Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General (tbc)
Welcoming remarks Mr. Hans-Rudolf Merz President of the
Swiss Confederation
Opening statement Mr. John Holmes Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Chair of ISDR
Opening Statements Mr. Anote Tong President of Kiribati
Ms. Isatou Njie Saidy Vice President, Head of
Disaster Management Programme, Gambia
Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister, Bangladesh
Mr. Raila Odinga Prime Minister, Kenya
Dato' Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister for Women,
Family and Community Development, Malaysia
Ms. Loren Legarda Senator, Philippines
Five High Level Panels exploring crucial issues that can make the worldsafer: Investment, Climate Change Adaptation, Community Resilience, Safer Hospitals and Schools, Building Back Better;
Five Roundtables — Early Warning, NGOs, Local Authorities, Education, Ecosystems; Five Special Events — including the public launch of the Red Cross Red Crescent World Disasters Report, a BBC World Debate featuring some hard-hitting dialogue between disaster risk reduction specialists in
front of a TV audience and a Film Debate highlighting climate change adaptation films; Some 40 side events organised by ISDR partners and a market-place featuring more than 30 booths/exhibits from ISDR partners.
Launch Venue and Date
The Second Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will take place at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG), rue de Varembe 17, 1202 Geneva from Tuesday16 through Friday 19 June 2009.
Media are welcome to the Launch Ceremony on 16 June and are invited to attend events open to all participants — including the plenary sessions — during GP09.
Press Conferences
GP09 involves many UN organisations and related stakeholders, so a significant number of press conferences will be arranged directly by attending partners. Among those already scheduled are:
MONDAY 15 JUNE 2009
11h00: Palais — Room 1
Eve of Platform Press Conference: Where are the safest places on earth?
Sponsoring Organization: UNISDR
Podium Speakers: Margareta Wahlstr?m, UN Assistant Secretary-General for
Disaster Risk Reduction
Senator Loren Legarda, Philippine Senator and UNISDR
Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate
Change Adaptation for Asia Pacific
ASG Wahlstr?m will outline the key purpose and objectives of GP09, referencing a new UN database which extrapolates sudden onset risk in individual countries. Senator Legarda will speak about risk reduction in her home country — the Philippines — which is among the most disaster prone on earth as well as describing her role as the UNISDR's Regional Champion for Asia Pacific.
Contact: Brigitte Leoni, UNISDR Head of Communications (Ag): Tel:
41.22.917.8897;
Email: [email protected]
14h00: Palais — Room 1
Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
Sponsoring Organization: IASC/ISDR Climate Change Task Force:
Podium Speakers: Kasidis Rochanakorn, Director of OCHA
Dermot Carty, Deputy Director, Office of Emergency
Programs, UNICEF Geneva
Caroline Howe, Director at the Climate Solutions Project of Indian Youth Climate Network and also a coordinator of the International Youth Climate Movement's Interim Steering Committee
Contacts: Mark Dalton, CISB - Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs.
Tel: 1.917.367.2422; Email: [email protected]
Elisabeth Byrs, Information Officer/Spokesperson, OCHA
Geneva.
Tel: 41.22.917.2653; Email: [email protected]
V?ronique Taveau, Communication Manager — Spokesperson
Private Fundraising and Partnerships UNICEF. Tel:
41.22.909.5716; Email: [email protected]
TUESDAY 16 JUNE 2009
13h00: CICG — Rooms 7 & 8
Opening Ceremony Press Conference
Sponsoring Organization: UNISDR
Podium Speakers: John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Convenor of the Second Session of the Global
Platform
Margareta Wahlstr?m, UN Assistant Secretary-General for
Disaster Risk Reduction
Podium speakers will take questions following his Opening Address calling for Governments to invest more in disaster risk reduction measures.
Contact: Brigitte Leoni, UNISDR Head of Communications (Ag).
Tel: 41.22.917.8897; Email: [email protected]
WEDNESDAY 17 JUNE 2009
11h00: Palais — Room 1
Clouds but little rain
Sponsoring Organization: Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction
Podium Speaker: Marcus Oxley, Chairman, Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction Views from the Frontline is the largest independent global assessment of disaster reduction at the local level ever undertaken; involving 48 countries and over 400 civil society organizations; and gathering local perspectives of progress from over 7,000 people. The review — which is designed to complement the national-level monitoring of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters (HFA) coordinated by UNISDR — has reached striking and surprising conclusions. It presents new insights on connecting policy formulation at international and national level with the realities of local level policy execution.
Contacts: Marcus Oxley: Tel: + 44.208. 943.7704;
Email: [email protected]
13h00: Palais — Room TBC
Announcement by Government of Bahrain
Sponsoring Organization: Government of Bahrain
Podium Speakers: TBC
The Government of Bahrain will make an announcement focusing on further initiatives/resourcing in support of global/regional disaster risk reduction.
Contact (provisional): Brigitte Leoni, UNISDR Head of Communications (Ag).
Tel: 41.22.917.8897; Email: [email protected]
14h00: CICG — Rooms 7 & 8
Enabling Community Resilience through Early Warning and Risk Management
Sponsoring Organization: World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Podium Speakers: Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General, WMO
Jose Rubiera, Director, Forecasting Department,
Cuban Meteorological Service
Experts on integrated flood risk management will also be present.
The World Meteorological Organization — a specialized agency of the United Nations — coordinates the activities of national meteorological and hydrological services worldwide. WMO is working in multi-hazard early warning systems, and technical support on hydrological, meteorological and climate-related hazard analysis for risk assessment, sectoral planning and financial risk transfer markets; 90 % of disasters are of hydrometeorological origin. The objective of WMO is to reduce, by 2019, by 50 per cent the 10-year average fatality (1994-2003) for weather-, climate- and water-related natural disasters.