United Nations Development Programme Official Statement at the 2022 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

This Global Platform marks a crucial milestone for countries and the international community–coming at almost the mid-point of our shared journey towards the realization of the aspirational 2030 Agenda. Coinciding with the Mid-Term Review of the Sendai Framework (MTR SF), it provides an opportunity to take stock of the progress we have made collectively in implementing the Sendai Framework.

The GPDRR theme From Risk to Resilience: Towards Sustainable Development for All in a Covid-19 Transformed World in fact sums up the current demands and emerging priorities quite aptly. The global socio-economic footprint of Covid-19 accompanied by simultaneous occurrence of a string of disasters and crises with their systemic and cascading impacts has laid bare the soft underbelly of our risk governance systems. The experience from Covid has reiterated the need for ramped up investments in resilience building while showcasing the importance of international solidarity and cooperation to reduce growing inequalities, tackle underlying risk drivers, locally and globally, strengthen disaster risk governance, build stronger systems for managing systemic risks, and to recommit, with urgency, to accelerate progress towards the reduction of disaster risk and the achievement of the SDGs.

Guided by this experience, UNDP is committed to foster a multi-dimensional all-hazard approach by strengthening inclusive and gender-sensitive approaches in our development, risk reduction and recovery efforts while ensuring interface with sustainable development and climate action agenda.

UNDP under its Strategic Plan 2022 -2025 will advance resilience building through a risk-informed development approach by articulating its strategic offer and tools to support the same. Recognizing the reversal of development gains due to disasters and climate impacts, it is evident that sustainable development aspirations will be hard to realize without integrating risk reduction and resilience considerations into development policy, planning and its implementation across all administrative levels, sectors and stakeholders.In fact, the Sendai Framework firmly acknowledges the close risk-resilience interface, which also permeates the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and the New Urban Agenda.

For us in UNDP, it is heartening to note the pro-active readiness on the part of the UN system, development partners, IFIs and Member States to increasingly embed this notion in their development initiatives. In this context, I am pleased to reiterate our commitment to the UN Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience: Towards aRisk-informed and Integrated Approach to Sustainable Development

UNDP is working with national governments and communities to identify contextual development solutions to the pressing challenges of our times especially the rising climate emergency and resultant socio-economic impacts due to the increasing frequency and magnitude of disaster and extreme events. First, we are keen to pursue these further by reinforcing integrated solutions to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and by facilitating access to topical risk analytics, resilience diagnostics and risk anticipation, increasing development dividends from financing instruments while also harnessing the potential offered by innovations and digital solutions. Second, ensuring that disaster risk reduction effectively permeates the global humanitarian-development and peace agendas.Third, fostering increased investments in resilient recovery that is green, just and sustainable and that lays the foundation for reducing future risks.

And, finally, recognizing the multi-dimensional and systemic nature of risks today, address disaster risks in tandem with risks such as climate change, conflicts, and epidemics as addressing one typology of risks at the expense of the others will only escalate the unattended ones---so starkly evidenced by our shared experience from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ladies and Gentlemen, UNDP is among the leading service provider within the UN system, helping our national and local counterparts address their socio-economic development, risk management as well as climate adaptation and mitigation challenges by addressing current demands while laying the foundations for tackling emerging priorities while working with UN sister agencies.

UNDP reaffirms its commitment to foster collaborative and partnership-based work with our UN partners, the private sector, civil society and other key stakeholders for disaster risk reduction to help build societies that are able to invest in reducing the systemic nature of risks, ensure rapid socio-economic recovery from disasters and crises while advancing action towards resilience building through a risk-informed development approach.

We at UNDP believe this to be critical to translate the vision of the Sendai Framework into reality.

Thank you.