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| Title | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
Expert talks about new flood risk guide"Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century" has just been published by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. |
1 May 2012 | News briefs |
UNISDR chief arrives in Philippines for five-day visitTop UN disaster risk reduction official, Margareta Wahlström arrives in Manila Philippines tomorrow for five-day visit during which she will meet with donors, the private sector, mayors and government officials to further push for more concrete disaster reduction actions to protect more communities and assets from future disasters. |
30 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Floods becoming more dangerous, more costly, says World BankA new guide launched at the WMO HQ this week warns that urban flooding is "becoming more dangerous and more costly to manage because of the sheer size of the population exposed within urban settlements." |
27 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Cambodia learning lessons from floods, says UNISDR ChiefNineteen year old Ien Sophorn heads a children's council in Cambodia that works with the Srei Nam Provincial Committee of Disaster Management to raise awareness on climate change adaptation. |
26 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Americans report feeling impact of climate changeA new study finds that 51 percent of Americans believe that extreme weather will cause a natural disaster in their own community in the next year. |
25 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Using GIS for disaster risk reductionInnovations in technology have made it easier in the last decade to reduce disaster risks and plan for the future. The internet combined with technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), now makes it possible to better understand and communicate the social and physical complexities of disasters. |
24 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
UNISDR chief visits flood-prone Cambodian provinceAt the start of a week-long trip to Cambodia, the UN's senior official for disaster risk reduction, Margareta Wahlström, met yesterday with a 64-year-old grandmother who saved the lives of her five grandchildren during last year's heavy monsoon rains. |
23 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
UNISDR welcomes Viet Nam’s new climate change strategyAs she wrapped up a five-day visit to Viet Nam, Margareta Wahlström, the top UN disaster risk reduction Official, commended the Government on the ambitious Community-based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) Programme and the comprehensive new National Climate Change Strategy. |
20 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Writeshops successfully mentor young researchersYuwan Malakar has good reason to be focused and driven these days. The 30-year old environmental management major from Nepal has just had his first paper on climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) published in one of the highly respected online journals of the Policy Studies Organization. |
19 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
The 6th International Seminar on Community-based Adaptation - Address by Margareta WahlströmI am honored to be invited to 6th International Seminar on Community-based Adaptation. It has been more than seven years that the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was adopted by 168 Governments at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Japan. The HFA provides a framework to reduce disaster through five priorities for prevention. |
19 Apr 2012 | Statements & speeches |
UN launches new initiative to assess urban riskThe UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today launched a new initiative to support cities around the world to manage risk following the worst year on record for economic losses from disasters. It also announced today that over 1,000 cities have now joined its "Making Cities Resilient" Campaign. |
18 Apr 2012 | Press release |
UNISDR Chief surveys risk reduction in VietnamUNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlström, today visited parts of Vietnam's Mekong Delta which were affected by storm surges last October and are most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change. |
17 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Australia, Germany, UK raise bar for donors, says reportA new report on humanitarian responses states that "If other donors were to follow the lead being set by Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, it could mean a turning point in transforming the humanitarian system from a reactive, response-driven model, to a proactive, preventive and anticipatory model." |
16 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Nations call for focus on disaster risk reduction at Rio+20There was a strong call for "the incorporation of disaster risk reduction in any future framework for sustainable development" during the UN General Assembly Thematic Debate on Disaster Risk Reduction yesterday which served as a major curtain raiser for Rio+20. |
13 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Risk reduction moves centre stage for Rio+20The cost of disasters were summed up last night in dollars lost, people displaced, lives lost as one would expect at a meeting hosted by Columbia University with the theme "From Sendai to Rio -- Cultivating a Disaster-Resilient Society for Sustainable Development." |
12 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Indian Ocean tsunami early warning systems pass testFollowing a massive earthquake earlier today in the Indian Ocean and the threat of a tsunami, Indonesian President and UNISDR Global Disaster Risk Reduction Champion, Susilo Bambang Yudhyono, told the press, "Our early warning system is working well". There were no tsunamis in Banda Aceh or other places which were hard hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. |
11 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Twinning for disaster risk reductionThreatened by increasing and lethal seasonal floods, the 500-year old Malaysian port city of Melaka is making considerable efforts to reduce the disaster risks that it currently faces from such climate related catastrophic events. |
10 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
Chile’s local leaders empowered to act on riskRecently empowered by the Chilean Congress, local government bodies in Chile are using their increased autonomy to boost community resilience and address risk reduction. |
4 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
UNISDR Chief visits Bangladesh cyclone beltA visit to a disaster-resilient habitat in Bangladesh has prompted UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström to acknowledge the south Asian country as leading developing nations in the global fight against climate change impacts. |
2 Apr 2012 | News briefs |
IPCC report outlines threat to 'The Future We Want'UNISDR today welcomed the full publication of the Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) and said "it provides us with the impetus for action to save the world from the worst that climate change can bring to our planet in the coming years." |
30 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
Bangladesh highlights shortage of cyclone shelters as UNISDR chief visitsThe UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today discussed with the Bangladesh Government the country's huge shortfall in cyclone shelters and the protection of the country's coastline from rising sea-levels at the start of a three day mission to Bangladesh where the cyclone season starts on April 1. |
29 Mar 2012 | Press release |
Mayor says Venice will be an icon of resilienceThe Mayor of the fabled city of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, has been chosen by UNISDR as Europe's first Champion of Urban Resilience in recognition of his efforts to build resilience to disasters and protect cultural heritage. |
28 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
Private sector's key emergency role in JapanKokusai Kogyo is one of several Japanese companies bound to the government by a bond called saigai kyotei, a service agreement activated by the occurrence of an emergency. |
27 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
Child traffickers thrive on disastersDisasters and climate related catastrophes are increasing the dangers facing children today such as child trafficking, according to a recent report by Najat Maalla M'jid, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. |
26 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
Spotlight on risk reduction for Rio+20The newly formed Group of Friends for Disaster Risk Reduction this week launched a powerful photo exhibition at the UN in New York to coincide with the opening of the so-called "informal-informal" negotiations leading up to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development or Rio+20. |
23 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
UNISDR calls for consumer care on World Water DayThe UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today urged people to think about how much water they will be responsible for using today on World Water Day. |
22 Mar 2012 | Press release |
Asian mayors meet in Manila to talk resilienceMayors and other representatives from some of Asia's largest cities are gathering for three days in Manila to focus on urban resilience across the disaster-prone region. |
21 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
Disaster losses top one trillion dollars as donors underfund risk reductionThe UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, today launched a new report by Development Initiatives which highlights major discrepancies in the way that donors allocate funding for disaster risk reduction despite economic losses of over one trillion dollars from disasters so far this century. |
20 Mar 2012 | Press release |
UNISDR champion fights to save ancient rice terracesThe 2,000 year-old Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are a UNESCO world heritage site often described as the 8th Wonder of the World. Their preservation is at the heart of an environmental campaign launched last weekend by UNISDR's Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Champion, Senator Loren Legarda. |
19 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
Risk reduction promise at World Water ForumPrevention and response to water-related disasters and crises are high on agenda at this week's Sixth World Water Forum which has resulted in a Ministerial Declaration that "we intend to develop and strengthen national and trans-boundary disaster prevention and response strategies." |
16 Mar 2012 | News briefs |
The Fourth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will take place in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2013.