LOREN STRESSES GOOD GOVERNANCE TO REDUCE
RISKS FROM DISASTERS

GENEVA, Switzerland - Senator Loren Legarda today called for good governance, environmental protection and rural development to reduce disaster risks in vulnerable countries.

Loren, the UN regional champion for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, issued the call in a statement she read before a forum here on Human Impact of Climate Change and New Challenges for Humanitarianism and Sustainable Development.

Citing the Philippines as an example of a country most vulnerable to climate change disasters, Loren said that "reducing disaster risk has become a moral imperative for governments and a social responsibility for all --- when having less in life means losing life."

Earlier, Loren addressed the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction attended by 1,800 delegates from 165 nations. She appealed to political leaders from around the world to act decisively on reducing disaster risks and managing the impacts of climate change in order to arrest the eroding social and economic welfare of "vulnerable" nations.

"Indeed, climate change and disaster risks have become one of the greatest challenges to human development the world faces today," Loren stressed. She recalled that last year, disasters killed about a quarter of a million people and affected more than 200 million lives. The total economic cost was a stunning 180 billion US dollars, which is twice the average annual economic losses of the past seven years. About 70 to 80 per cent of these disasters have been climate-related.

Loren said that the Asia and the Pacific region, which she represented, accounted for more than 80 percent of the global loss of life.

The Philippines, she said, is one of the most vulnerable. "Located on the fringe of the Pacific Ocean and right within the Ring of Fire, the archipelago is at constant risk of typhoons, about 20 per year, and of strong earthquakes and powerful volcanic eruptions. And, with climate change, the country is foreseen to suffer stronger typhoons, more heavy rains, more flashfloods, more devastating droughts, and increased incidence of water and vector-borne diseases."

She cited the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction which found that poor urban governance, vulnerable rural livelihoods, and ecosystems decline were the primary drivers of greater losses from natural disasters.

"Firstly, we must therefore strengthen governance in the urban centres. This means putting a stop to corruption. This means enforcing strictly building codes and zoning policies. This means not placing people, houses, and industries in high risk areas.

"Secondly, we must protect our ecosystems for it was found that 60% of all ecosystem services have declined ... for when we convert mangrove plantations to shrimp ponds, we actually increase storm surge risk; for when we cut down forests for agriculture use, we actually increase landslide risk; for when we drain wetlands, we actually increase flood risk.

"And thirdly, we must enhance rural livelihoods which 75% of the poor depend on to subsist. This means improving agricultural productivity and supporting our farmers better. This also means addressing the issues akin to rural poverty - such as inequity in land distribution, lack of access to better seeds and irrigation technology, the lack of economic diversification, weak markets and trade barriers, and the lack of capacity to absorb and to recover from disaster losses."

Loren also said the Philippines has been vulnerable to the periodic occurrence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon that induces prolonged wet and dry seasons, particularly in the decades of the 80s and 90s. It contracted the nation's GDP when agricultural production dropped drastically. From 1990 to 2003, the damage due drought was about 370 million US dollars. It also exacerbated poverty by 28 per cent. "Indeed, all these prevailing drivers of risk call for decisive action now," Loren declared.

"The challenge of the 21st century to world leaders has never been more pronounced and more compelling than in the present," she asserted. "The lack of political will, poor understanding of risk, disregard for prevention and mitigation, lack of preparedness for response, our failure to take action, and our apathy and complacency --- all these transform natural hazards and climate change to a disaster.

"There is no more fitting time to say that reducing disaster risk has become a moral imperative for governments and a social responsibility for all than now --- when having less in life means losing life.

'The present task of reducing disaster risks in the context of poverty, social inequality, gender imbalance, and climate change has now become synonymous with preserving humanity and securing the future of our children and our grandchildren today. It is therefore a task no one can afford to ignore. "