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6
Pacific disaster management meetings a success
Delegates from across the Pacific converged on
Lami, Fiji for the 6th Session of the Pacific Platform
for Disaster Risk Management and the 20th Regional
Disaster Managers Meeting on 2-6 June 2014. Both
meetings were hailed as a success, resulting in
outcomes progressing regional processes.
The 6
th
Pacific Platform
was co-convened by SPC and
the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
(UNISDR) and focused on regional and global policy
initiatives. The meeting provided the region with a
pivotal opportunity to shape disaster risk and climate
change efforts for at least the next 20 years. Themed,
the
Way Forward: Climate Change and Disaster
Resilient Development for the Pacific,
the three-day
meeting achieved the objectives of gaining feedback
and support for the draft Strategy for Climate and
Disaster Resilient Development in the Pacific (SRDP)
and the development of the Post-2015 Framework
on Disaster Risk Reduction, which is to be endorsed
at the 3rd World Conference on Disaster Reduction
(3WCDRR) in Sendai, Japan in March 2015. Key
Pacific regional imperatives for effective disaster risk
management and climate change adaptation were
also identified for the post 2015 development agenda.
In his opening address, Lieutenant Colonel Inia
Seruiratu Minister for Rural & Maritime Development
and National Disaster Management and Minister for
Agriculture, Fisheries & Forests, said that Fiji fully
supports the proposed Strategy, integrating climate
change and disaster risk resilience as a successor to the
Pacific Regional Framework for Climate Change, and
the DRR Framework for Action. 'I believe that the new
Strategy or SRDP is a "world first" and, collectively,
you should be proud of your contributions and
achievements. For us in the region, the climate and
disaster instruments are integrated and inseparable,
unique to our island nature and the SRDP is the right
approach to take us into the future,' he said.
The representation of international leaders at the
meeting, such as the HE Thani Thongphakdi, Thai
Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and
HE Kenichi Suganuma, Japanese Ambassador for
3WCDRR, demonstrates that the wider region is
looking to the Pacific to lead the integration of
climate change and disaster risk management into
development practices.
The meeting hosted strong representation from
youth who participated in policy discussions and
the thematic event on youth as agents of change
in disaster risk management. This year also saw an
increase in the presence of civil society organisations
and the private sector involved in the discussions and
Talanoa sessions.
Participants at the 6th Pacific Platform on Disaster Risk Management
Filomena Nelson, NDMO Samoa and Chair of the 6th Pacific Platform
Panelists at the 20th Regional Disaster Managers Meeting