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What
we do |
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| Background |
| The
facts are clear, while fewer people are being killed by natural
disasters, the number affected by them is on the rise. The success
of improved forecasting, early warning and evacuation has undoubtedly
saved thousands of lives. But these disaster reduction tools have
not prevented homes, crops, social services, infrastructure and
livelihoods from being wiped out in ever-greater numbers by natural
hazards.
With
climate change pushing the world towards more frequent extreme
weather, the situation is likely to get worse. The International
Strategy for Natural Disaster Reduction (ISDR) estimates that
the global cost of natural disasters is anticipated to exceed
$300 billion annually by the year 2050, if the likely impact of
climate change is not countered with aggressive disaster reduction
measures.
UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged this upward trend
in a speech that marked the end of the
International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction in 1999:
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| ‘’We
know that human communities will always have to face natural
hazards, whether floods, droughts, storms or earthquakes.
But today’s disasters owe as much to human activities
as to the forces of nature. Indeed the term ‘natural’
is an increasingly misleading one. A wide variation in the
number and intensity of natural hazards is normal and to
be expected. What we have witnessed over the past decades,
however, is not nature’s variation but a clear upward
trend caused by human activities’’. |
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| Examples
of these human activities include environmental mismanagement,
uncontrolled urbanization, increasing poverty and poor governance.
In order to tackle the development dimensions of disaster occurrence
and loss, the Secretary-General stressed the need to mainstream
disaster risk reduction into all development programming –
a strategy that has become an essential component of the
United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) approach
to building capacityfor sustainable human development.
Due
to its unique development role, UNDP was given a clear mandate
by UN
General Assembly at its 52nd session: |
"To
act as the focal point for strengthening national capacities
related to disaster mitigation, prevention and preparedness.
UNDP’s Executive Committee determined that disaster
reduction (prevention, preparedness and mitigation) and
recovery comprise essential components of UNDP’s development
priorities, as such they relate to the recent Millennium
Development Goals. These goals range from providing
universal primary education to reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS
to boosting access to clean water, with the overarching
goal of halving extreme poverty —all by the deadline
of 2015. " |
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| DRU
Programme Framework |
The
DRU main goal:
"Reduce risk of Disasters
in Programme Countries"
UNDP
BCPR/ Disaster Reduction Unit (DRU) works to achieve a
sustainable reduction in disaster risk and sustainable
recovery from disaster in programme countries, by strengthening
national and regional capacities. This involves ensuring
that disaster risk considerations are factored into all
new development, that disaster impact is mitigated and
development gains protected and also that risk reduction
is factored into rapid disaster recovery. Accordingly,
UNDP has been a key player in the implementation of the
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. In the
past year UNDP’s activities in disaster reduction
and recovery spanned over 50 programme countries.
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| DRU
provides UNDP
Country Offices (CO) with technical assistance and financial
support for the design and implementation of disaster reduction
strategies and capacity building programmes addressing a range of
relevant issues. DRU, in doing countries by integrating risk reduction
into development and increasing investment in risk reduction. |
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| Results
Framework |
| Towards
the end of 2002, the DRU conducted a programme review of its existing
portfolio and refocussed and reoriented its programme
for support to Country
Offices in accordance with the Results Based management approach.
In pursuit of its overall goal to reduce the risk
of disasters in UNDP programme countries, the DRU
established a Strategic
Results Framework with the following Strategic Areas
of Support (SAS) and outcome level results. This new DRU strategic
framework formed the basis for thematic support to UNDP Country
Offices in disaster prone areas for. All programme development
occurs within the context of this framework and the activity themes.
•
SAS 1 - Increased capacity for risk reduction
•
Knowledge networks developed
• Cadre of risk management personnel developed (national
and regional
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SAS 2 - Risk reduction integrated into development
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Risk reduction policy/strategy and legislation developed
• Risk reduction tools applied (all levels)
• Risk reduction factored into recovery
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SAS 3 - Increased investment in risk reduction
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Increased support for risk reduction (donor and governments)
• Partnerships established/strengthened
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Disaster
Reduction Unit |
UNDP seeks to ensure that disaster risk considerations
are factored into national and regional development
programmes and that countries take advantage of
recovery following disasters as unique opportunities
to mitigate future risks and vulnerabilities.
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Promoting the integration of
disaster risk planning and preparation into
national and regional development programmes;
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Providing advice on risk reduction
strategies as part of recovery programmes; •
Strengthening global, national and regional
institutional structures for sustainable disaster
risk reduction through technical assistance
and training;
• Enabling countries
to share information on strategies and best
practices for reducing disaster risk and vulnerability
through regional and sub-regional knowledge
networks;
• Contributing to global
advocacy on disaster reduction through the preparation
of a World Vulnerability Report to promote the
role of effective policy and frameworks in reducing
disaster risks; and
• Supporting an inter-agency
disaster management training programme available
for officials in risk prone countries.
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| UNDP
Institutional Mechanisms |
BCPR
Mission Statement |
To
enhance UNDP’s efforts for sustainable development,
working with partners to reduce the incidence and
impact of disasters and violent conflicts, and to
establish the solid foundations for peace and recovery
from crisis, thereby advancing the UN Millennium
Development Goals on poverty reduction. |
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| The
goals of UNDP as related to disaster reduction are defined as:
ensuring the widespread recognition that disaster reduction and
sustainable development are understood as mutually supporting
goals, and the integration of sustainable reduction in disaster
risk and sustainable recovery into all UNDP country programmes.
UNDP
works to achieve its goals through the Bureau
for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), which operates
in cooperation with the regional bureaux and 166
Country Offices (CO), Bureau
for Development Policy and Sub-Regional Resource Facilities (SURFs).
UNDP
allocates its resources through a scheme called “Target
for Resource Assignments from the Core” (TRAC).
The TRAC scheme earmarks 55 per cent of UNDP core resources for
country programmes and projects. Countries are given access to
this common pool (referred to as TRAC 1) through three tiers of
funding. The first tier (30 per cent), designated as TRAC 1.1.1,
is immediately assigned to countries. The second tier (20 per
cent), or TRAC 1.1.2, is assigned by region, for subsequent assignment
to countries on the basis of merit. The third tier (6.6 per cent),
TRAC 1.1.3, is for countries in special development situations,
such as those designated as least developed, or those undergoing
natural disasters or economic/political crises.
Besides
core resources derived from its member countries, UNDP is able
to mobilize funds for country programmes and projects through
three other modalities:
(a) trust funds for certain types of projects,
(b) cost-sharing of projects with other donors or the recipient
country itself, and
(c) parallel financing of related projects by other donors.
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| Knowledge
Networking |
| Regional
Knowledge Networks
UNDP
has been developing sub-regional knowledge networking initiatives
in the Caribbean, Central America
and central and south-west Asia,
which facilitate the sharing of information and best practice
between countries, enabling appropriate knowledge on relevant
issues to be brought to bear at the national level.
More
information |
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| Training |
| The
Disaster
Management Training Programme (DMTP), which is managed
by DRU, is a learning platform addressing crises, emergencies
and disasters for the UN Member States, the UN system, donors
and international and non-governmental organizations. Through
its training programmes, DMTP has raised awareness inside and
outside the United Nations and the need for more effective crisis
and disaster management to reduce risks and vulnerabilities in
developing countries.
For
more information please visit the UNDMTP website
More
information |
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| Institutional
Legislative Systems |
| UNDP
was given the mandate by the United Nations General Assembly at
its 52nd session, to act as the focal point for strengthening
national capacities pertaining to disaster mitigation, prevention
and preparedness. During the 1990s, mainly through concerted global
programmes pursued by UNDP and other UN agencies and influenced
by the International
Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) , many countries
were exposed to an approach for the management of disasters and
disaster risks that was essentially proactive, stressing the importance
of mitigation of future risks as much as the importance of effective
and efficient response when disasters strike. This approach provided
the basis for the development of programmes to establish or strengthen
national systems for sustainable disaster risk reduction through
technical assistance and capacity building support. UNDP has provided
capacity building support in disaster reduction to over 48 individual
countries as well as regional mechanisms.
More
information |
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| Risk
Reduction Tools |
| UNDP
has been providing programme countries with technical assistance
and financial support for the design and implementation of disaster
reduction strategies and capacity building programmes addressing
a range of relevant issues: the strengthening of administrative
and legislative systems; community-based disaster reduction; early
warning systems; national disaster reduction plans etc.
More
information
The
DRI Analysis Tool
The
pioneering Disaster
Risk Index (DRI) Tool measures the relative vulnerability
of countries to three key natural hazards — earthquake,
tropical cyclone and flood — and identifies development
factors that contribute to risk, and shows in quantitative terms,
just how the effects of disasters can be either reduced or exacerbated
by policy choices. Our hope is that the tool will both help generate
renewed interest in this critical development issue and help bring
together stakeholders around more careful and coherent planning
to mitigate the impact of future disasters.
Click
here for more information |
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| Recovery |
| Risk
Reduction Factored into Recovery
Given
the critical importance of the post-disaster recovery phase as
an opportunity to address disaster reduction concerns UNDP provides
the UN Resident Coordinator with access to TRAC 1.1.3 sudden response
funds in the event of major natural disasters and when appropriate,
technical assistance to carry out impact assessments and to design
sustainable recovery and vulnerability reduction frameworks and
programmes. Key programmes implemented to date include: Venezuela
(1999 mudslides), Mozambique
(2000 floods), Gujarat,
India (2001 earthquake) -
PDF - 1.7MB - 31 pages - , Cuba
(2001 Hurricane Michelle).
More
information |
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| Advocacy
& Awareness |
| UNDP
contributes to the design and adoption of policy frameworks at
the regional and international levels, that are supportive of
a sustainable reduction in disaster risks. Besides, UNDP is a
member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction and
chair of its working-group
on Risk, Vulnerability and Impact Assessment.
Previous policy work focused on the links between disasters and
poverty in LDCs while the current focus is on integrating approaches
to disaster reduction and adaptation to climate change. A
Global Report - Reducing Disaster Risk, A Challenge for
Development has been developed.
More
information |
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Partnership |
| Other
mechanisms
There
are other, less explicit institutional mechanisms within UNDP
that provide specific inputs for achieving disaster reduction
in support of sustainable development.
More
information |
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Project
Profiles |
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