Session 2

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1 Featured Event - Dialogue with Parliamentarians and Mayors on Disaster Risk Reduction: From policy to local action

Featured Event - Dialogue with Parliamentarians and Mayors on Disaster Risk Reduction: From policy to local action

UNISDR - Plenary, 10 May 2011, Photo: V. Krebs

Session Information

Date and Time: Tuesday 10 May 2011, 10.30 – 12.30 - Room 1

Chair/Moderator/Faciliator: Mr. Mel Senen S. Sarmiento, House of Representatives, Philippines

Reporters: Caroline Fisher (Summary), Melody Rosdahl (Key Words), ICVolunteers.org

Editor: Diego Beamonte, ICVolunteers.org

Speakers

Ms. Nelly Gray de Cerdán, Senator of Mendoza, Argentina
Ms. Saumura Tioulong, International Parliamentarian Union Second Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade, Cambodia
Mr. Xie Ruiwu, Vice Mayor of Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Mr. Peter Williams, Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer, USA IBM
Mr. Alex Byarugaba, Member of Parliament, Uganda
Mr. Khalifa Sall, Mayor of Dakar, Senegal

Description

Dialogue with Parliamentarians and Mayors on Disaster Risk Reduction: From policy to local action

Parliamentarians, mayors and local government representatives can play a strategic role in bridging the gap between national governments and local authorities in understanding disaster risk reduction. Legislators throughout the world have developed disaster reduction legislation, and overseen policy changes as well as budget allocations. Mayors and local government representatives have led efforts to enhance the sustainability and resilience of their cities, towns and communities. Panelists will demonstrate how informed legislators and mayors play an active role in supporting local action by shaping, financing and promoting risk reduction. The event will consider challenges faced along the way, and engage with stakeholders in the audience to identify opportunities for working with elected officials to build resilience.

Summary

This dynamic session brought together leaders and parliamentarians as well as the private sector into an open dialogue on how to address the issues of disaster risk. The panelists discussed how they were bridging the gap between national governments and local authorities while sharing risk with the wider community and incorporating disaster risk management into mainstream planning and legislation. Continuing challenges were highlighted and solutions to overcome them were put forward. A few of the proposed solutions were: sharing key lessons for increased progress, sharing risk, improved legislation as well as application of legislation, public-private partnerships, access to information and corporate social responsibility.

The moderator, Mr. Mel Senen S. Sarmiento, member of the House of Representatives from the Philippines, introduced the panel asking for key lessons and learnings from disaster in the spirit of collaboration, in order to learn from best practices. The panel discussed the need to incorporate disaster risk management and prevention into legislation and make disaster risk reduction a priority on the political agenda. Investments in prevention need to be incorporated into budgets at the local and national level. In addition, every development program needs to incorporate Disaster Risk Management.

The need for shared learnings provided momentum for the discussion at the outset. Mr. Xie Ruiwu, Vice Mayor of Chengdu, Sichuan, China, briefed the audience on the rescue and relief effort in Chengdu – after the massive earthquake that struck in May 2008 - demonstrating the focus of the central government, whose efforts focused on people’s lives as a first priority. The challenge is how to map out a strategy to reconstruct and to make Chengdu more resilient in the long run including risk reduction strategies of upgrading infrastructure, keeping human life at the forefront of concern, coordinating the system and forming a disaster reduction committee.

Ms. Nelly Gray de Cerdán, Senator of Mendoza, Argentina, spoke of her country's introduction of disaster risk reduction into legislation. She commented that urban planning, as well as protection of the environment and cultural heritage need to be established in local legislation and within local budgets. In addition, Ms. Gray de Cerdan put forward the argument for shared responsibility between legislators, families, NGOs and others, as a form of increasing effectiveness and efficiency, and the need for them to provide input into the draft legislation regarding risk prevention.

The need to move away from short-term initiatives and adopt a longer-term view was also identified particularly in addressing issues of climate change and adaptation. In addition, the need to drill down from the national to the local level and build a strategy for local communities was highlighted by Mr.  Khalifa Sall, Mayor of Dakar, Senegal.

Ms. Saumura Tioulong, International Parliamentarian Union Second Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade, Cambodia, stressed the need for stronger prevention campaigns by governments, similar to preventative health measures such as immunization, in order to prevent natural hazards becoming major disasters. She too stressed the role of elected officials and parliamentarians in preventing catastrophes from happening, and the need to integrate prevention measures in the design of public infrastructure while definitely avoiding faulty designs.

Mr. Alex Byarugaba, Member of Parliament, Uganda highlighted the issue of economic losses and increased poverty when governments fail to integrate disaster risk reduction into their planning process, and placing institutions and appropriate governance measures in place. Africa’s vulnerability was emphasized, highlighting the role of disasters detracting from the progress of the millennium development goals.

In addition to shared learnings, the need to scale up good practices and work with the private sector on disaster risk reduction, on both the global and local level, was highlighted. The role of information technology in scaling up these practices is crucial according to Mr. Peter Williams, Distinguished Engineer and Chief Technology Officer, USA IBM. Information is critical to enabling response, in terms of knowing where people are, and where assets such as cables, water, and infrastructure can be found. There is huge scope for public sector and private sector to work together in disaster risk reduction and improving access to information. Mr. Williams suggested a register was suggested to centrally collect good practices so that governments and organizations can consult these and relate their own circumstances. This initiative would allow different cities and countries to learn from each other.

The theme of partnerships was discussed with the need to form alliances between actors, social and institutional agreements and to foster an ongoing dialogue between nations. In addition to public-private partnerships there is the need to build cross party coalitions to solve issues of national interest. The academic and technical worlds have much to contribute to Disaster Risk Prevention together with other university experts. The sharing of financial resources is an ongoing challenge.

Issues were highlighted from officials and representatives in the audience regarding the need for tangible solutions; the need to highlight and frame the challenges in order to overcome them and to share the knowledge learned. Key points from statements and questions included:

The representative from France noted that his country was integrating disaster prevention policies into other policies such as urban planning, environmental.

The Mayor of Chile noted his concern that in the first 48 hours of a disaster, the state and the private sector are not present.

The representative of Senegal stated that it is not just responsibility of the state but should be shared between the state, local communities and civil society and the need for active dialogue.

A key challenge overall presented was convincing decision makers that it is better to prevent than reconstruct.

Finally, Ms. Nelly Gray de Cerdán made a proposal to the Global Platform to use the Internet and create a portal to which everyone can contribute to share local experiences both positive and negative.

Use of Key Words

Collaboration: Mr. Khalifa Sall stressed the importance of establishing global governance systems, where national and local actors, such as mayors, can exchange information about disaster risk reduction, thinking globally and acting locally.

Private sector contribution: All speakers agreed about the importance of the contribution made by the private sector which has financial abilities to actively contribute to DRR. Mr. Peter Williams mentioned the example of Wallmart which managed to get supplies to its stores right after Hurricane Katrina hit the South-East coast of the United States providing food to the population.

Land-use planning: Ms. Nelly Gray de Cerdan mentioned the importance of including Disaster Risk Reduction in the legislation process to ensure better quality of life and services. She stressed that it is possible to achieve this by urban/rural/industrial and land-use planning. Mr. Peter Williams pointed out that where he lives, in the San Francisco area, land-use planning to prevent floods is not as efficient as it could be.

Prevention: Ms. Saumura Tioulong defined disaster risk prevention as a philosophy, a concept to prevent natural hazards from becoming natural disasters, including death of populations or their displacement.

Public policy: Speakers and members of the audience stressed the importance of integrating DRR into public policies. A member of government from France brought up the problem of applying legislation after it has been approved. The audience agreed that parliamentarians have to be very assertive in order to effectively implement such legislation.

Risk reduction awareness: This can be achieved through education and training in order to learn from previous disasters and reduce the impact of future ones by taking good decisions in the planning process, said Mr. Alex Byarugaba.

LIST OF KEY WORDS