Philippines Elected as Chair of the UN Regional Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia and the Pacific
DENR Undersecretary for Strategic Communications Marilou Erni assumes her role as Chair of the 8th Session of the ESCAP Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction. (Bangkok PE photo)
BANGKOK 28 July 2023 — The Philippines took on the leadership role in a United Nations regional meeting on disaster risk reduction in Bangkok, Thailand, attended by 31 member states of the Asia Pacific. At the Opening Session of the 8th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of the Asia Pacific (ESCAP) Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction on 25 July 2023 at the UN Conference Center, Chief of Staff and Supervising Undersecretary for Strategic Communications of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines Marilou G. Erni was elected Chair of the Committee Session.
The ESCAP Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction meets biennially to discuss and strengthen regional cooperation on disaster risk reduction, taking full note that the Asia Pacific is the most disaster-prone region in the world.
In Undersecretary Erni’s statement at the session, on behalf of the Philippine Government, she highlighted that the Philippines is “one with the global community in calling for accelerated actions on the implementation of the Sendai Framework” for Disaster Risk Reduction. Undersecretary Erni also reiterated the Philippines’ call for concrete, urgent action through “an all-hazards, whole-of-society, anticipatory, integrated approach to climate and disaster risk governance, and transformative adaptation across the Asia Pacific region.”
To further underscore the Philippine government’s key focus on disaster risk reduction, Undersecretary Erni informed the regional session of the Philippines’ hosting of the Asia and the Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR) in Manila next year. At the 2024 APMCDRR, the Philippines will build on and bring together various disaster risk reduction initiatives from the local, national, regional and international levels.
At the regional level in ESCAP, the Philippines, through the Philippine Space Agency, leads the regional cooperation on the use of space applications for disaster risk reduction, such as the use of satellites for hazard management and climate action.
The Philippines is also one of the original donor countries to the ESCAP Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness which was established in 2005 following the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to support tsunami early warning systems, and later expanded to strengthen countries’ disaster and climate preparedness.
Undersecretary Erni, who served as Head of the Philippine delegation, was joined by representatives of the Philippine Space Agency, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Department of Foreign Affairs.
For more information on the 8th Session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, please visit the official website at https://www.unescap.org/events/2023/committee-disaster-risk-reduction-eighth-session-25-27-july-2023. The proceedings of the meeting are also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgaQxj06HAw. END
DENR Undersecretary Erni (4th from left) with ESCAP Executive Secretary Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana (5th from left) and other representatives of the donor countries to the ESCAP Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness. (Bangkok PE photo)
Left photo: DENR Undersecretary Erni (right) with Deputy Director General Gay Jane Perez of the Philippine Space Agency (left). Right photo: DENR Undersecretary Erni (4th from left) with Deputy Director General Gay Jane Perez (3rd from left) and other members of the Philippine delegation. (Bangkok PE photo)
For more information, visit https://www.bangkokpe.dfa.gov.ph or https://www.facebook.com/PHinThailand/.