A Big Step in Reducing the Risk of Disasters

Why in News?

• The world is at the midpoint of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which is the global road map for reducing disaster risks and losses.
• While progress has been made, we are not where we need to be. Disasters around the world are claiming more and more lives. The consequences of climate change are already on our doorstep.

 

Recent Disasters

• Ten days ago, three continents were gripped by heat waves. Massive forest fires have ravaged parts of Greece and Canada.
• Two weeks ago, the river Yamuna breached the highest flood level, recorded 45 years ago, and inundated parts of Delhi.

 

Sendai Framework 2015-2030

• The Sendai Framework works hand in hand with the other 2030 Agenda agreements, including The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the New Urban Agenda, and ultimately the SDGs.
• It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly following the 2015 Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR).
• It advocates for the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods, and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural, and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities, and countries.
• State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector, and other stakeholders.

 

Challenges to Disaster Risk Reduction Mechanism

• The lack of competent financial risk management and insurance has provided a fertile breeding ground for these risks to proliferate and intensify.
• There is also a scarcity of investment in a development-oriented approach that unites all parties into a transparent framework of action at the national level.
• Significant difficulty in collecting and analysing data on hazards and exposures.
• The lack of technical and institutional capacity for risk assessment and modelling.
• Achieving comprehensive coverage of disaster risks.

 

India’s Initiative Under its G20 Presidency: Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group

• Countries are finally coming around to the value of disaster risk reduction, which India has elevated as a priority for G20 through its presidency of the group.
• India has established the first G20 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group.
• Five priorities have been outlined in the first meeting of the working group.
  • Coverage of early warning systems to all,
  • Focus on disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure,
  • Improving financing frameworks for national DRR,
  • Improving systems and capabilities for response to disasters and,
  • Application of ecosystem-based approaches to disaster risk.

 

Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group’s (DRRWG) Objectives

• The DRRWG will strive to address all the key components of a comprehensive financial management strategy for disaster risks.
• The DRRWG will offer an extensive overview of disaster risk assessment and financing practices across a wide range of economies.
• It can also support the harmonisation of definitions and methodologies for data collection and analysis to improve access to international (re)insurance markets.
• DRRWG will offer affordable and comprehensive insurance coverage of disaster risks, financial assistance and compensation for affected individuals and businesses, and risk transfer mechanisms.
• It will help issuers, investors, and other stakeholders to identify and classify disaster-resilient investments, assets, and entities in a more effective and evidence-based manner.
• The DRRWG could channel more capital towards DRR investments, while also creating new opportunities for innovation in sectors less commonly associated with disaster resilience, such as health, social protection, and natural capital.

 

G20’s Priorities in Reducing the Risk of Disasters

• Early Warning System
  • Expanding disaster early warning and early action systems is a top priority. Inclusive and multi-hazard early warning systems are among the most effective means of reducing disaster deaths and economic losses.
  • During Cyclone Biparjoy, effective systems for end-to-end early warning and action helped achieve zero deaths from the event in India.
  • Preparedness of the power sector helped reduce the disruption time in power supply in the aftermath of the cyclone.
  • The promise of disruptive technologies can help many countries leapfrog into a regime where they can use global capacity for forecasting to meet local needs.
  • To that end, the G20 is working to realise the goal of the UN Secretary General’s Early Warnings for All Initiative, which seeks to create universal coverage for everyone by the end of 2027.
• Resilient Infrastructure
  • Enhancing the resilience of infrastructure to withstand climate and disaster risks is another global priority.
  • From New Zealand, which saw the flooding of Auckland airport, to the U.S., where a pharmaceutical plant was destroyed by a tornado, every country can benefit from assessing and enhancing the resilience of its critical infrastructure.
  • Infrastructure has a long-life cycle, and if built well, can lock-in resilience as opposed to risk.
  • That same infrastructure also becomes the lifeline of recovery during a crisis.
  • Hence, infrastructure, whether economic or social, is ultimately about people and it must lead to sustainable development outcomes for them.
  • That is why India launched with the UN in 2019 the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CRDI), to spur policy development and capacity support for disaster resilient infrastructure, especially in developing countries.
  • We are currently collaborating to create a global methodology for conducting infrastructure resilience reviews and stress testing, based on the Principles for Resilient Infrastructure.
• New Approach to Financing DRR
  • Developing a new approach to financing disaster risk reduction is needed to transform risk reduction plans into concrete actions.
  • This effort must be led by finance and economy ministries in collaboration with the private sector because the current funding deficit for DRR is too large for governments to manage alone, and many of the risks generated are by the private sector.
  • G20 nations like Indonesia and India have used risk metrics to allocate resources at the sub-national and local levels for DRR. These need to be studied and scaled.

 

Importance of G20’s efforts in the Implementation of the Sendai Framework

• The G20 provides a broader platform to drive global goals on DRR. The perspectives that G20 as a group will bring to the table would be unique.
  • For example, any talk about risk financing will not be merely about additional financial resources, it will also include more efficient, effective, and predictable financing mechanisms.
• The G20 can maximise the impact of the financial resources available from multiple sources such as governments, multilateral institutions, capital markets, insurance companies and philanthropies and communities.

 

Way Forward

• The world needs to do more to prevent the risk of losses from all disasters.
• Building on priorities set by G20, scaling up ecosystem-based approaches and enhancing national and local response capacities will be the responsibility of the next G20 presidents.
• Brazil, which will assume the Presidency of the G20 in December, has committed to continuing the working group and building on what India has started is a welcome step.

 

Conclusion

• For too long, countries have spent billions responding to disasters rather than paying a little upfront to prevent or reduce their impact.
• By prioritising disaster risk financing for the first time, the G20, under India’s presidency can convert good intentions into opportunities for investment.

 

---

Q1) What is CDRI 2016?

CDRI was launched by the Indian Prime Minister at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019. It is an international coalition of countries, UN agencies, multilateral development banks, the private sector, and academic institutions, that aims to promote disaster-resilient infrastructure. CDRI's initial focus is on developing disaster-resilience in ecological, social, and economic infrastructure. Its objective is to promote research and knowledge sharing in the fields of infrastructure risk management, standards, financing, and recovery mechanisms. 

 

Q2) What steps should the countries consider to improve Disaster Management?

States need to enhance their capacity to understand risks and integrate them into government planning and budget processes. The insurance industry needs better regulation, legislation, and supervision. Partnerships with the private sector need to be enabled to transfer sovereign risk to the capital markets, and the financing for response, recovery. Reconstruction needs to be improved by using preventive measure.

 

---

Source: The Hindu