First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction

Ambassador Kairamo
Ambassador Thongphakdi
Special Representative Wahlström
Excellencies
Distinguished delegates:

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to International Geneva and to the Palais des Nations for the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Let me, first of all, thank all the partners who are supporting the preparations for the World Conference, and in particular Japan, as the Host Country, and Switzerland as the Host of the Preparatory Committee meetings.

We are building on a strong foundation of disaster risk reduction, cutting across the three dimensions of our work here in Geneva: peace, rights and well-being for all. 10 years ago, in 2004, Geneva was already hosting the Preparatory Committee meetings of the Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction that was held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, in January 2005 and adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action. I appreciate that we can take forward this work, with Geneva at the heart of the discussions around disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, complementing the efforts of the broader United Nations systems.

We are here today to discuss how to create a safer, healthier, more prosperous and more resilient world. The risk of disaster touches all of us – a fact that has been brought home by the many disasters we have witnessed over the past year. With the combination of rapid urbanization and climate change, this challenge has taken on added urgency. These are factors that make us all vulnerable, and it is imperative that we take action to limit the human impact and the financial cost of disasters.

2015 represents an opportunity for all of us, as countries around the world are set to agree on three key documents: the post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction, which we are debating today, the post-2015 development agenda with the Sustainable Development Goals at its core, and the climate change agreements in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

If we get these international agreements right, if we strengthen and align our institutions, policies and actions for effective implementation, we can set the course for a resilient future with economic growth that is sustainable and equitable.

There can be no doubt about the scale of the challenge, but we are encouraged by the experience and the partnerships that we draw on in our activities.

The work on disaster risk reduction, with UNISDR in the lead, has been showing the way in establishing the inclusive partnerships we need to strengthen resilience. A broad coalition of civil society, parliamentarians, local authorities and the private sector is indispensable both in determining an ambitious agenda for resilience and in implementing it. We need a global vision, but it has to be owned and implemented at local level. These are efforts that have been having a direct impact on millions of people around the world, paying dividends by empowering individuals and communities and I strongly commend the work of UNISDR in this respect.

The International Geneva community feeds its collective experience and know-how into these efforts, and we look forward to continue supporting an inclusive process in the run-up to the World Conference next year.

I wish you all fruitful deliberations over the coming two days.

Thank you very much.