LEADERS AGREE TO RESILIENCE MEASURES AT GLOBAL PLATFORM

By UNDRR

25 May 2017, CANCUN, Mexico – The President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, and the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Amina Mohammed, today met with other world leaders and heads of international organizations to identify practical measures for reducing economic losses.

The Leaders Forum, chaired by President  Peña Nieto, convened on the opening day of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and recognized that there is a danger that economic losses have now reached such a magnitude that they pose a clear threat to sustainable development. Over the last ten years direct losses alone are conservatively estimated at US$1.4 trillion.

In a Communique, the group stated that there is an opportunity to reduce future disasters and climate risk as, over the next 40 years there will be more investment in infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, urban road construction, water and sanitation, energy and transport systems, and housing, than ever before.  

In a briefing to the media, President Peña Nieto, and UN Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Mohammed, presented the key points of the Leaders' Forum Communique.

The Leaders' Forum committed to a prevention agenda which encompasses implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in coherence with the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the New Urban Agenda and other relevant instruments.

This includes a commitment to a disaster risk assessment of existing critical infrastructure by 2019 and to make disaster risk assessments a prerequisite for future infrastructure and housing investments.

To further resilience, they will invest in the collection of data and information on disaster risk and losses and work to strengthen international cooperation on managing disaster risk, reducing mortality, reducing

 the numbers of people affected by disasters, reducing economic losses, and reducing damage to critical infrastructure, all key targets of the Sendai Framework.

They will take stock of progress at the next Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction which will take place in Switzerland in 2019.

The Leaders' Forum was chaired by H.E. Mr. Enrique Peña Nieto, the President of Mexico with the participation of H.E. Mr. Jovenel Moïse, the President of Haiti, H.E. Mr. Taneti Maamau, the President of Kiribati, H.M. King Mswati III, Head of State of Swaziland, H.E. Mr. Robert Mugabe, the President Zimbabwe, H.E. Mr. Mattlan Zackhras, Minister in-Assistance to the President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, H.E. Mr. Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia, and H.E. Ms. Inonge Wina, the Vice President of Zambia.

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