G20 DRR meet begins: Structured mechanism for financing needed for disaster risk reduction, says Mishra

Chennai, Jul 24 (PTI) The third and final meeting of the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group commenced here on Monday with Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, P K Mishra emphasising the importance of structured mechanism to finance disaster risk reduction.

Over the last few years, India has completely transformed the way disaster risk reduction is financed, he said. “We now have a predictable mechanism for financing not just disaster response but also disaster mitigation, preparedness and recovery. Can we have analogous arrangements at the global level as well?” he asked while inaugurating the DRR Working Group meeting under India’s Presidency, here.

“In the area of financing disaster risk reduction, it is important that we pursue structured mechanisms at all levels for financing all aspects of disaster risk reduction,” he said.

Mobilising private finance for disaster risk reduction has been a challenge but without it one would not be able to go very far in addressing all the disaster risk reduction needs, Mishra claimed.

“What kind of enabling environment should the governments create to attract private finance into disaster risk reduction? How can G20 generate momentum around this area and ensure that private investment in disaster risk reduction is not only an expression of corporate social responsibility but part of the core business of firms?” he said.

In the area of disaster resilient infrastructure, the benefits of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure are already being seen with the partnerships established with a number of G20 nations, the UN, and others a few years ago, Mishra said.

The Coalition’s work is to inform how countries including Small Island Developing Countries can use better risk assessments and metrics to upgrade their standards and make more risk-informed investments in infrastructure development.

“It is important that we work towards taking these ideas to scale! We have to think beyond pilots and design our initiatives for scale,” he said.

On “Building Back Better” after disasters there has been much practical experience over the last few years but ways have to be found for institutionalising some of the good practices. Like “preparedness for response,” emphasis on “preparedness for recovery” underpinned by financial arrangements, institutional mechanisms, and capacities, are needed, he stressed.

In the short span of four months, the Working Group had made a lot of progress and generated good momentum but more needs to be done. “The ambition of this Working Group must match the scale of problems we face…We need transformation of local, national and global systems for preventing the creation of new disaster risks and effectively managing existing disaster risks,” he further said.

Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Mami Mizutori, said disaster risk reduction has been seen as an additional expenses for development programmes and infrastructure projects. “But we know that this is not true or correct. Investment in receiving ends generate dividends in avoiding disasters and this is why we must all enhance resources and capacities for prevention and risk reduction with great urgency,” she said.

She exuded confidence that this working group could be a catalyst for the change that’s needed by reducing the disaster risk.

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant and representatives from Indonesia and Brazil spoke.