Repræsentanter fra en række afrikanske lande mødes i disse dage i Arusha, Tanzania, for at diskutere en ny global plan for reduktion af katastroferisici. Det sker samtidig med, at oversvømmelser har kostet liv i blandt andet Mozambique.
ARUSHA, 13 February 2013: Representatives of 40 African States are gathering for the 4th Africa Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (reduction af katastroferisici), UNISDR, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, writes in a press release Wednesday.
From 13-15 February 2013, the representatives will discuss Africa’s position on a new global framework for disaster risk reduction amidst continuing concern over the ravages (hærgen) of climate change, drought, floods, heat-waves, wildfires and other natural hazards (risici).
Figures released Wednesday by CRED (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters) and UNISDR show that 18 million people were affected by drought last year and 8.8 million were affected by floods across sub-Saharan Africa. Economic losses from 147 recorded disasters over the last two years were $1.3 billion.
In an unusual measure, five of Africa’s Regional Economic Communities (ECOWAS, ECCAS, SADC, IGAD, EAC) are meeting in Arusha to discuss the challenges and to develop a joint position on the new global framework for disaster risk reduction which will be agreed at the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction hosted by Japan in 2015. Africa’s experience of implementing the existing Hyogo Framework for Action, the first global action plan for reducing disasters, will be widely debated during these three days.
FN-udsending: Investeringsbeslutninger afgørende for Afrikas fremtidige katastroferisici
Margareta Wahlström, UNISDR Chief and the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, said: “Africa’s economic growth is bringing opportunities and new investment. It has the highest rate of urbanization in the world. Half of Africa’s population will live in cities and towns by 2050. Investment decisions which are being made now will determine the future of disaster risk across the continent.
“It is almost ten years since Africa first agreed on a regional strategy for disaster risk reduction. There have been striking successes at reducing the impact of major disaster events such as the current floods in Mozambique and the threatened major drought last year on the Horn of Africa but extreme weather events continue to remind us of Africa’s vulnerability and exposure to natural hazards. Africa has an opportunity now to influence investment in disaster risk reduction and to influence considerably the outcome of the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in 2015.”
Læs videre på: http://www.unisdr.org/archive/31224
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