Official statement of the Russian Federation

Dear colleagues,

The Russian delegation considers the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction as an authoritative international forum for the exchange of experience and best practices in the field of disaster risk reduction as well as for assessing progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction for 2015-2030 adopted at the 3rd World Conference of the United Nations for Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015.

The world community in the 21st century has faced serious challenges of a global nature. Climate change contributes to the intensification of extreme natural processes and phenomena, which significantly increases the risk of large-scale natural disasters. In addition, the widespread over the past two years of the COVID-19 infection has become a separate significant threat to the health of citizens, sustainable development and national security in several countries of the world.

The Russian Federation works systematically to improve the protection of the population and territory from natural disasters and man-made disasters within the framework of the state policy to strengthen the national security of the country.

Through the efforts of the Russian Ministry for Civil Defense and Emergencies (EMERCOM of Russia) a legislative framework in the field of protecting the population and territories in emergency situations has been created as well as an effective management and state supervision bodies in this area. Besides, the Russian Unified State System for Emergency Prevention and Response is successfully functioning and developing. In addition, national and sectoral plans for adaptation to climate change have been developed and approved by normative acts, and activity to improve monitoring and forecasting systems for rapidly developing hazardous natural processes is underway.

EMERCOM of Russia follows the principle that it is much cheaper to prevent an emergency than to eliminate its consequences and allocate the necessary costs for recovery.

At the same time Russia attaches great importance to maintaining a culture of safety and educating the population in order to ensure preparedness for natural disasters. The «Guidelines of the Russian Federation State Policy in the field of protecting the population and territories from emergencies for the period up to 2030» provide the introduction of new methods of education and information work with the population on issues of protection from emergencies, as well as conducting training events. This activity is supported by both state structures and public organizations.

Pointed out the significant contribution that the UN agencies make to disaster risk reduction Russia, from its part, supports a number of their initiatives. In particular, our country is participating in the United Nations Global Campaign «Making Cities Resilient – 2030». This Global Campaign which provides for the introduction of a self-assessment system for city administrations in the field of disaster risk reduction, is one of the effective mechanisms for implementation at the local level the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction for 2015-2030. 10 Russian cities has joined this Global Campaign.

А pilot project «My City is Safe» to increase the cities resilience to disasters was implemented in 70 constituent entities of the Russian Federation in 2020. Within the framework of this project a competition among 285 municipalities of the Russian Federation was organized. The main goal is to use the best domestic and foreign practices in the field of disaster risk reduction to assess the preparedness of Russian cities and municipalities for natural and man-made disasters. As an assessment tool, along with methodological recommendations developed on the basis of the All-Russian Research Institute for Civil Defense and Emergencies, an adapted UN scorecard was also used. In the view of the successful implementation of the above-mentioned project, it was decided to hold such a competition on a regular basis.

Russia promotes the development at the international level of measures aimed at strengthening national, regional and global capacities for reliable forecasting of natural hazards, proactive preparedness and early warning, as well as reducing the vulnerability of the population. The effective implementation of the Sendai Framework remains an important part of this work.

The Russian Federation remains an active participant in the international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance in particular to states affected by catastrophes and crises. Such an assistance is provided both on a bilateral basis as well as through cooperation with relevant international organizations – WFP, WHO, ICDO. In 2020-2021 EMERCOM of Russia on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation carried out 24 emergency humanitarian operations. About 80% of them were in response to requests from foreign countries in connection with spread of COVID-19. More than 75 thousand tons of humanitarian cargo have been delivered. Among the recipient countries are the Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Yemen and others. We are convinced that the acuteness of modern global problems and the need to solve them require close international cooperation, further strengthening of the UN coordinating role in this area and combining efforts of all international structures, state institutions and public associations.

It is also important to make additional efforts to consistently include elements of early warning and disaster forecasting in international development programs, which fully meets both the implementation of the tasks within the framework of the Sendai process as well as the achievement of sustainable development goals.

Thank you for attention!