UN Country Team Learns about the Links between Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development

On 14-15 November, representatives of the UN Country Team (UNCT) and the International Development Group (IDG) in Serbia attended a seminar designed to better familiarize them with the importance of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and introduce them to Preparedness and Contingency Planning more specifically. The seminar was organized by the UNDP/SEESAC team and the UN Office of Resident Coordinator as a part of the “Strengthening the Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery (DRR) system in Serbia” project, which aims to support efforts of the Serbian Government to strengthen the DRR and disaster recovery system.

While opening the event, Mr. William Infante, the UN Resident Coordinator in Serbia, spoke of UNDP’s involvement in both disaster response efforts, in case of the Kraljevo earthquake, and in strengthening disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness in Serbia. In fact, UN has ensured that DRR is an integral part of the Country Programme Framework, because “without consideration for the risks of disasters, there can be no sustainable development of a country,” explained Mr. Infante. At this time, “we in Serbia have pretty strong disaster response tools, but much remains to be done before we are adequately prepared for or able to mitigate potential disasters,” said Mr. Infante.

Martin Studdert, former Executive Director of the Australia’s Protective Security Coordination Center, followed by making a compelling argument for how important the link between disasters and development is when he noted that in 2010-2012 period severe earthquakes and extreme weathers events, such as major floods, resulted in a loss of 304,000 lives, €154 billion in material damages, and a bill of $43 billion to insurance industry alone.

When they happen, Mr. Studdert underlined, disasters can also present opportunities as they mobilize resources and create political will for more thought-out, long-term approach to development. Development community should utilize these opportunities.

Sergei Anagnosti, National Disaster Risk Advisor from UNDP/SEESAC, Dusan Zupka of UNDP, Martin Studdert, as well as the representatives from the Emergency Management Sector of the Ministry of Interior, the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia, and the Seismological Survey of Serbia presented throughout the two-day seminar.

The seminar covered the nature, scope and importance of DRR in the context of sustainable development; it delved into the important regional and international DRR mechanisms; highlighted the integration of cross-cutting issues such as environment, climate change adaptation and gender into DRR; presented the roles, mandates and areas of work of key UN entities, and examined both the disaster trends and existing structures for responding to hazards in Serbia. The goal of the seminar was to specifically build the understanding and the capacity of the UNCT and IDG to assist with the integration of DRR in development of Serbia.

The seminar was attended by representatives of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), Italian Development Cooperation and others.