Last autumn, the IPCC 1.5 degrees report was a call for action now. The report highlighted the acute need for adaptation to climate change and building resilience for a sustainable future.
Sea levels are rising fast, threatening coastal communities, low-lying areas, and many of the world’s cities. Powerful hurricanes are sweeping across small island states, causing widespread damage resulting in deaths and human suffering, and losses that might amount to more than 200 percent of a small state’s GDP – like was the case in Dominica when Hurricane Maria hit.
But the natural disasters we have had the last years would have been even more devastating, and the loss of human lives much higher, if it had not already been invested in preparedness and risk reduction. Our challenge is to scale up this work, make it global and make sure that the most vulnerable are included.
We therefore appreciate the important work of the UNISDR on the implementation of the Sendai Framework. We welcome the next meeting of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction as an opportunity to take the agenda further, exchange experience and strengthen a common understanding of challenges and opportunities.
Adaptation to climate change and sustainable development are closely interlinked. To be efficient, adaptation, risk reduction and preparedness should be part of national development plans and sector plans and integrated into local, national and regional planning.
UNISDR should keep up its good work on coherence between the Sendai Framework with its indicators, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement.
We are happy to see that this is on the agenda for the GP 2019 –following up on the GP 2017. We also welcome that the gender perspective and Women Leadership is included. The agenda for the meeting is indeed covering several aspects of crucial importance to make societies sustainable and inclusive.
The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, together with the Regional Platforms for Disaster Risk Reduction, represent a unique multistakeholder mechanism to take stock of disaster risk reduction and advance the implementation of the Sendai Framework in coherence with other instruments on sustainable development and climate action, and to contribute to policy setting.
Finally, I would like to recognise the importance of this year’s Global Platform and the relevance of its deliberations in light of the important political meetings and outcomes ahead, namely the SG Climate Action Summit, the SDG Summit, the FFD High-level Dialogue and the SAMOA Pathway review which will pave the way forward
Norway is looking forward to a fruitful Global Plattform 2019 in Geneva.