UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed and UNISDR head Robert Glasser last met at the Global Platform in Cancun, and both spoke this week at a special ECOSOC session on disaster resilience

By David Singh

Geneva, 26 October: Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed, has called on Member States to do “more at all levels to manage disaster and climate risk and to prepare for future extreme weather events, which are likely to grow in severity and frequency.”

Addressing a Special Meeting on ‘the Aftermath of Recent Hurricanes: Achieving a Risk-informed and Resilient 2030 Agenda’ which was held by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in New York this week, Ms. Mohammed stressed that “Risk-informed sustainable development is an absolute necessity and should inform our policies and investment criteria.”

The Deputy Secretary-General said risk-informed development also required risk-governance systems that could overcome the policy, institutional and programme siloes in which work on climate change, disaster risk reduction and environment is often pursued.

“The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction gives us the tools to address new challenges and opportunities,” she said.

“Disasters can erase, in an instant, development gains made over many years, leading to death, displacement, damage, disruption and despair. The international community has a responsibility to support affected countries to become more resilient; to promote a risk-informed approach to reconstruction; and to strengthen their financial systems so that they can cope with such large-scale shocks," said Ms. Mohammed.