UN disaster office head says Japan can play role in climate risk reduction
Japan, as a disaster-prone country, can play a key role in helping other countries prepare to reduce the risks from climate change, the head of the U.N. office in charge of disaster management said.
Japan is one of a few countries contributing to official development assistance or ODA projects designed to help set up early warning systems in developing countries, Mami Mizutori, head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, said.
Some 96 percent of disaster-related governmental development aid worldwide is allocated to response and recovery after a disaster hit, while only 4 percent is used for risk reduction, the former Japanese diplomat said.
This equation needs to be reversed, Mizutori said, adding that “This is the only way disaster won’t devastate anymore.”
Japan has always been a strong advocate of prevention, given its experience with disasters such as the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
The country hosted all three U.N. conferences on disaster risk reduction that took place in 1994, 2005 and 2015.
According to UNDRR, while the number of disasters has nearly doubled since 2000, the resulting economic loss has tripled, mainly due to climate change.
If no action is taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions, there could be a 40 percent increase in the number of disasters by 2030.
However, early warning systems, including alerts through forecasting services, and the quick and efficient spread of disaster information, could reduce the mortality rate, and more resources must be allocated to establishing such systems, Mizutori said.
The United Nations has recently set a new goal that everyone on the planet has access to an early warning system by 2027.
Currently, only about half of the world’s countries have such systems in place. The ratio drops to 30 percent among small island developing states that are most exposed to hazards.
The guidelines on risk reduction adopted in 2015 are “visionary,” Mizutori said, as they focus on the prevention of hazards and not merely on post-disaster relief.
Although biological hazards, such as the global spread of viruses, have been included in the guidelines, they remained unheeded.
But the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting global health crisis have changed the situation, she said.
“People saw what happens when not enough has been done in prevention, when a hazard hits you unprepared, becoming a huge disaster,” Mizutori said.