BUJUMBURA February 28th (ABP) – Building national capacities to reduce the disaster risks and exposure of people, property and livelihoods to hazards, requires integrated support to government and national actors, said Mr. Alfredo Teixiere, Country Director of UNDP. It was during a validation workshop of the national strategy of disaster risk management organized on Monday February 26, 2018 in Bujumbura by the UNDP in collaboration with the national platform.
According to the chairman of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Antoine Ntemako, the strategy in question is a prevention, preparedness, alleviation and emergency response tool for Burundi and aims at building the capacity and resilience of communities to deal with a disaster. It is a sign that the government of Burundi is well committed to strengthening its policy in the area of disaster risk reduction, he added. It is part of Sendai’s 2015-2030 framework, which aims at substantially reducing disaster losses, reduce existing risks, prevent new risks, and strengthen preparedness for response and recovery by measures of any kind, he continued. To achieve these goals, he said, Burundi needs to be supported in its implementation efforts to build the resilience of people to better respond to disasters.
The Sendai Framework for Action for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015. It is the result of consultations launched in March 2012 and intergovernmental negotiations conducted from July 2014 to March 2015 at the request of the United Nations General Assembly and with the support of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Sendai Framework for Action follows the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), which covered the 2005-2015 decade and was entitled “For resilient nations and communities with regard to disasters”.
The UNDP Country Director noted that the Strategy and its Action Plan are tools to help the Government of Burundi to engage with other States in the world to integrate risk and Disaster Reduction (RDR) and building resilience in its country steering tools, and in national budgets at all levels for achieving the SDGs. That will, he added, build resilient infrastructure (SDG 9), make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (SDG11), and take action to fight against climate change and its impacts (SDG 13).
At the global level, he said, the number and magnitude of climate-related disasters has increased, reversing development gains. Over the past decade, more than 700,000 people around the world have lost their lives, more than 1.4 million have been injured and approximately 23 million are homeless as a result of disasters.
To respond to those disasters and crises, governments need to be supported in their efforts to return to sustainable development pathways, while improving their skills to proactively manage risk and build resilience to future crises.