Official German Statement at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

Your Excellency Mr. Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia,
Honorable Special Representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Ms. Mami Mizutori,
Distinguished Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Moving from “Risk to Resilience”!

• That is the slogan for this year’s Global Platform. – And it is very timely.
• Hurricanes in the Caribbean, typhoons in Asia, droughts in Africa and floods in Europe: they have all had devastating effects on individuals, on communities and on us as nations.
• The mandate of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction is more relevant than ever before.
• I would therefore like to thank the Government of Indonesia for cohosting and UNDRR for facilitating this Global Platform.

Germany is committed to increasing resilience towards disasters:

At the national level,

• we are seeking to improve early warning, including cell broadcast systems. Our challenge is to ensure a coherent, nation-wide warning practice through all administrative levels. There is a lot we can learn from more disaster-prone countries in this regard.

With our partners in developing countries,

• Germany is fostering risk-informed planning and decision-making.
• We are helping to upgrade critical infrastructure and supply systems so as to make them more resilient, and we are enabling innovative solutions for climate risk financing.
• Our focus is on fragile contexts. Making those communities most at risk more resilient, and involving them in decision-making and planning will be key to achieving the Sendai Framework as well as the 2030 Agenda.

We are making sure our humanitarian assistance is risk-informed

• and we commend UNDRR’s efforts to make Disaster Risk Reduction an integral part of humanitarian programming..
• Together with our partners we are aiming to significantly increase financial resources, and scale up and mainstream anticipatory action.
• The needs of people at risk or already affected by displacement are in our focus, informing actions to strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity

Three aspects in disaster risk reduction are key for success:

First, we need to enhance our understanding of risks. Because we know that risk-informed decision-making is the best form of prevention.

• This will require joint analysis and the exchange of reliable data.
•  But it will also require getting local knowledge by listening to farmers, youth groups, displaced persons or women’s associations, as that will build trust, which is a foundation for good risk governance.

Second, all of us must ensure that our efforts are well coordinated:

• Governments, civil society, business and research: we all must address complexity and ensure coordination across all relevant levels and sectors, in order to support those most in need.

And third, we will only build resilience together ‒

• Strong multilateral and regional partnerships with the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and civil society networks are a key element on our way to success

Investing in reducing disaster risks is a “smart investment”

• It saves money.

But more importantly: disaster risk reduction saves lives!

• Let us work together to make it more effective.