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What does Copenhagen mean for disaster risk reduction?

by Laurie Goering | @lauriegoering | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thursday, 3 December 2009 14:46 GMT

LONDON (AlertNet) Â? Negotiations toward a new global climate treaty at Copenhagen this month must produce a clear mechanism to fund adaptation, including disaster risk reduction efforts, says the U.N.'s disaster risk reduction chief.

The alternative, she says, is an erosion of hard-won anti-poverty gains as more families lose their homes and livelihoods to increasingly extreme weather.

Margareta Wahlstrom, special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, spoke with AlertNet this week while preparing for Copenhagen.

Q: What is the risk if negotiators fail to reach an effective new global agreement to address climate change?

A: Every day, every week, every year that we don't take action, irreversible changes to our climate pile up. All these things scientists hope to slow down - increasing frequency and intensity of weather events - pile up and will continue to do so.

Emissions have kept increasing in spite of all the agreements and that increase has been very rapid in the last 10 years. Every day we don't take a decision is a setback.

In concrete terms, that means the cost of disasters will keep going up. Disasters cost countries their investment in development. And from a human perspective, the costs to individuals and their families are high.

Seventy percent of the world has no insurance coverage. When people lose their homes, they just lose them. They lose their crops, their animals. It's a big threat to what has been a quite successful poverty alleviation campaign.

People in many places now acquire a little wealth, live a little better, are in a bit better health, get a bit more education. But if we can't control the impact of extreme weather events, that improvement is seriously under threat.

Q: What does the disaster risk reduction community need from Copenhagen to move ahead?

A: It's like everyone is frozen now on the Copenhagen outcome, and not enough is being done to plan the immediate future afterward. Getting financing mechanisms (for adaptation) will be crucial to giving clarity and guidance, and to assure countries there will be some funds for those who need it.

The political statements that come out of Copenhagen must be absolutely convincing and give a clear sense of direction. We must set up mechanisms and not run around in circles as we have been doing.

Q: What are the challenges facing countries trying to prepare for more extreme weather disasters?

A: Governments need to take decisions on how to allocate their national resources. What priority is disaster risk reduction among so many competing priorities? Money is an important issue but it's not the only one.

There are a lot of practical people out there who know what needs to be done, but they are lacking an overall structure to make action more than an individual initiative. We need to scale up and build things as part of a bigger agenda.

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