Statements and messages

The Caribbean region is not only one of the most beautiful in the world, it is also one of the most disaster-prone. Three out of the ten countries most affected by extreme weather events in the last 20 years are in the Caribbean. Recent hurricanes from 2017 and 2019 - Irma, Maria, and Dorian - devastated national infrastructure across ten Caribbean islands. As a cluster of small island developing states (SIDS), the overwhelming majority of the region’s disasters are water or climate-related. And we know that the weather-related challenges facing SIDS are not expected to recede anytime soon.

Opening remarks of SRSG Mami Mizutori at the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction

Opening of the Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Africa - Towards disaster risk-informed development for a resilient Africa in a covid-19 transformed world.

From the perspective of disaster risk reduction, which is a main theme of this conference, and from that of my agency, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the concern about the risks posed by water-related hazards is increasing to say the least. There is no doubt that water-related hazards, too much or too less, are growing in intensity and frequency.

In 2022, 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance around the world. Mami Mizutori, SRSG and Head of UNDRR, calls on countries to increase investment in disaster preparedness and prevention to save lives.

Today we conclude the Fifth Arab Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. For four days and throughout 25 sessions, 16 countries and more than 100 experts and 500 participants gathered in a ministerial-level, multi-stakeholder, inclusive, innovative, and interactive platform. Thank you again to our host, the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco. I also extend our appreciation to the League of Arab States, who organized this event with the UNDRR Regional Office for Arab States.

Africa has often been called a “continent on the move” and this is especially true for West Africa, which is one of the most mobile regions in the world. More than 50% of global migration flows from the West African and Sahel countries. At the same time, people are very much reliant on rain-fed agriculture. This makes the region highly vulnerable to the impacts of global warming, including droughts and flooding.

Small island developing States are at the forefront of the climate emergency and suffer from “double exposure” to both economic and environmental shocks. If the world’s future is uncertain, then the future of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is only m

We urgently need to accelerate action to reduce the impact of climate-related disasters. The world needs greater investment in climate change adaptation as called for by the Paris Agreement, and in national and local DRR strategies as called for by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Tsunamis remain the deadliest of all sudden onset natural hazards and they expose shortcomings in the built environment with deadly precision and fatal consequences. They are the ultimate test for risk governance and the rigor of DRR strategies when it comes to managing risks that originate in the world’s oceans and threaten the coastlines where 650 million people are exposed to tsunami risk, storms and tidal surges. Rising sea levels and industrial pollution are all contributing to the expansion of the tsunami threat. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction is encouraged by the progress we have seen since the celebration of the first World Tsunami Awareness Day five years ago.