Second Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

REMARKS BY

 THE HONOURABLE BRUCE GOLDING

PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA

2^ND GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

GENEVA

Audio

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I thank you for affording me the opportunity to address you briefly as you assemble in the 2^nd Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

You will, no doubt, engage in an assessment of the progress made since your first session in 2007. You will most certainly wish to measure the steps taken toward implementation of the Hyogo Framework adopted in 2005 and which set out a series of actions to be taken and targets to be achieved by 2015. You are almost at the half-way mark. Your evaluation will prepare you for that all-important Copenhagen conference in December.

You will, I am sure, applaud the concrete steps that have been taken but I suspect that you will wrestle with frustration at those indicators where talk and declared commitments have not been matched by action and the exertion of will. It is symptomatic of so many global human development endeavours.

I urge you not to be dispirited by failure where it has occurred, not to be overwhelmed by the understandable frustration you feel. Your mission is crucial to the well-being of the world and your purpose must remain firm. For many countries, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Your efforts to sensitize governments to the real and present danger of disasters and the costly consequences of lack of mitigation and preparedness must continue relentlessly.

It is true that many governments are not sufficiently seized with the importance of disaster prevention. Too often, we sit by and allow the environment to be degraded and made hazardous to live in because it is politically expedient to do so.

But the stark reality is that disaster risk reduction and better management of our built environment require resources that many poor countries simply cannot find. Many countries are called upon to prioritize among priorities, making painful choices between disaster risk reduction measures and building clinics, supplying school lunches or providing potable water. These are not esoteric issues; they are the hard, harsh reality.

The Hyogo Framework recognized this dilemma and called for adequate voluntary subscriptions to the UN Trust Fund for Disaster Reduction. The call has not resonated; it needs to be stronger, because it is central to the successful implementation of Hyogo.

I recall that in his address at the 1^st Session in 2007, Under-Secretary-General, John Holmes, pointed out that in the previous year, 134 million people were victims of natural disasters that resulted in $35 billion in damage.

I do not have a figure as to what it would cost on an annual basis for countries to carry out appropriate disaster prevention measures. It is likely to be considerably less than $35 billion. How can that be financed?

The UN Trust Fund does not have the robustness to finance that. The voluntary contributions have not been substantial enough.

The Caribbean was the first region to establish a regional Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility to which Jamaica subscribes approximately $5 million per year. That is the equivalent of 4/10 of 1/10 of 1% of our Gross Domestic Product.

Consider for a moment that if the world committed to making an equivalent contribution to the UN Trust Fund, it would yield some $25 billion per year, more than the total annual budget of the entire UN system.

It would make a vast difference to the UN's capacity to respond to the needs arising from natural disasters

It would make it possible to allocate substantial funds, perhaps on a matching basis, to countries that are unable to adequately fund disaster mitigation and risk reduction projects.

It would place the noble objectives of the Hyogo Framework within our reach if not immediately within our grasp.

It is something, I suggest, that we would do well to ponder.