DISASTER MANAGEMENT – GEOGRAPHY
News: As president, India can guide G20’s disaster management initiatives
What is in the news?
●
The G20 under India’s
Presidency has endorsed a new working group on disaster risk reduction. This
makes it well-positioned to prioritize disaster risk financing to achieve the
targets set by Sendai framework for 2030.
Social polarization due to disasters:
Key takeaways:
●
Recent years have seen an
increase in both natural and human-made catastrophes across the globe.
●
The 2021-22 Human Development Report shows that
disasters do not merely exacerbate poverty and thwart development, but also
generate social polarization across nations and communities.
Need of financial risk management:
●
The lack of competent
financial risk management and insurance has provided a fertile breeding ground
for these risks to proliferate and intensify, wreaking havoc on various aspects
of society and the economy.
● Annual disaster losses account for a significant share of GDP in many low-income economies. To manage these risks, financial strategies must be developed.
Pressing issues in financial risk management:
1. Poor integration of disaster Risk financing
and government planning:
●
States need to enhance
their capacity to understand risks and integrate them into government planning
and budget processes.
●
The insurance industry
needs better regulation, legislation, and supervision.
2. Private sector participation:
●
Partnerships with the
private sector need to be enabled to transfer sovereign risk to the capital
markets, and the financing for response, recovery, and reconstruction needs to be improved by shifting from ex-post to ex-ante
mechanisms.
3. Investment scarcity:
●
There is also a scarcity
of investment in a development-oriented
approach that unites all parties into a transparent framework of action at
the national level.
Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group:
●
It was established by the
G-20 forum to address disaster Risk financial management.
●
Within the overall
framework provided by the Sendai
Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, it is proposed that the G20 group of
countries work towards following priorities:
○ Global coverage of Early
Warning Systems for all hydro-meteorological
disasters.
○ Increased
commitment towards making infrastructure
systems disaster and climate resilient.
○ Stronger national
financial frameworks for disaster risk
reduction.
○ Strengthened
national and global disaster response
system to address the consequences of increasing frequency and intensity of
disasters.
○ Increased
application of ecosystems-based
approaches to disaster risk.
1. Overview of disaster risk assessment:
●
The DRRWG will offer an
extensive overview of disaster risk assessment and financing practices across a
wide range of economies.
2. Harmonization of data collection:
●
It can also support the
harmonization of definitions and methodologies for data collection and analysis
to improve access to international (re)insurance markets.
3. Financial management strategy:
●
It will address all the
key components of a comprehensive financial
management strategy for disaster risks:
○ Encompassing
disaster risk assessment and modeling.
○ Affordable
and comprehensive insurance coverage of disaster risks.
○ Financial
assistance and compensation for affected individuals and businesses.
○ Risk
transfer mechanisms, including catastrophe bonds and insurance, for management
of fiscal risks.
4. Channeling capitals to disaster resilient
investment:
●
The working group on
disaster risk reduction’s addition in the Sherpa track of G20 will help
issuers, investors, and other stakeholders to identify and classify
disaster-resilient investments, assets, and entities in a more effective and
evidence-based manner.
●
Channel more capital
towards creating new opportunities for innovation in sectors less commonly associated
with disaster resilience, such as health, social protection, and natural
capital.
5. Public - private cooperation:
●
The second DRRWG meeting
in Mumbai will strive to create vital links between public and private actors’
investment and financial decision-making. It will encompass a wide range of
hazards and identify strategies to address them.
Suggestion of the Disaster risk reduction working
group:
●
The industry must incorporate material disaster risk into its
investment decisions. We need to move beyond treating disasters as singular
events and adopt a multi-hazard approach, considering various emergencies and
risks in financial decision-making.
●
Establishing a regulatory framework to enhance the
financial capacity of insurance companies to cover disaster losses.
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction:
History:
●
SFDRR is an international
Treaty that was approved by UN member states in March 2015 at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held
in Sendai, Japan.
●
It is a voluntary and non-binding treaty which recognizes that the UN member State has
the primary role to reduce disaster risk.
●
It has a framework for 15-year i.e. 2015 to 2030.
●
It is the successor of the Hyogo Framework for Action
(2005–2015), which had been the most encompassing international accord on
disaster risk reduction.
Priorities:
1. Understanding disaster risk:
●
Disaster risk management should
be based on an understanding of disaster risk in all its dimensions of
vulnerability, capacity, exposure of persons and assets, hazard characteristics
and the environment.
2. Strengthening disaster risk governance to
manage disaster risk:
●
Disaster risk governance
at the national, regional and global levels is very important for prevention,
mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation. It fosters
collaboration and partnership.
3. Investing in disaster risk reduction for
resilience:
●
Public and private
investment in disaster risk prevention and reduction through structural and
non-structural measures are essential to enhance the economic, social, health
and cultural resilience of persons, communities, countries and their assets, as
well as the environment.
4. Enhancing disaster preparedness for
effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and
reconstruction:
●
The growth of disaster
risk means there is a need to strengthen disaster preparedness for response, take
action in anticipation of events, and ensure capacities are in place for
effective response and recovery at all levels. The recovery, rehabilitation and
reconstruction phase are a critical opportunity to build back better, including
through integrating disaster risk reduction into development measures.
Steps taken by India for Pre & Post Disaster
Management:
1. National platform for disaster risk
reduction:
●
The Government
established this platform in 2013 to
evolve a participatory process of decision making in disaster management with
active involvement of the Central & State Governments and stakeholders
including people representing different interests in the field of disaster
management.
2. Disaster Mitigation Fund:
●
Government has
established a National Disaster Mitigation Fund in 2021 based on the
recommendation of the 15th Finance commission to improve the financial capacity
of disaster mitigation measures.
3. Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure:
●
India presented a
practical approach and roadmap with the launch of a global Coalition for
Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) to make the infrastructure resilient
in the face of disasters.
● It is meant to provide member countries technical support and capacity development, research and knowledge management, and advocacy and partnerships to facilitate and encourage investment in disaster-resilient infrastructure systems.
4. National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project:
●
NDMA took up a project
named National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) in which a Web-based
Dynamic Composite Risk Atlas (Web-DCRA) would be developed to launch a dynamic,
impact-based cyclone warning system aiming at minimizing economic losses.