PRESS RELEASE
Germany’s
Global Fire Monitoring Centre Receives
United
Nations Sasakawa Award For Disaster Reduction
M/02/12
7 October 2002
The United Nations has awarded the United Nations Sasakawa Award
for Disaster Reduction to the Global Fire Monitoring Centre (GFMC),
Fire Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Freiburg
University, Germany, for its outstanding work in the field of
wildfire prevention.
The award will be presented to the GFMC at the Palais des Nations
in Geneva on the occasion of the celebration of the International
Day for Natural Disaster Reduction on 10 October 2001. The ceremony
will be held at 2:30 p.m. in room XVI.
The main activities of the GFMC are the application of early warning
systems for wildland fires, especially as part of its activities
in the assistance to developing countries in building capacity
in fire prevention and fire management systems.
Since its creation in
1998, the GFMC has been working with the international community
to reduce the socio-economic impact of
wildfires worldwide through the introduction of scientific and
technical innovations for improved forecasting and early warning
systems. The GFMC has also contributed to increased awareness on
wildfire reduction mechanisms through the organization of international
seminars and “National Round-Tables on Fire Management”.
The involvement of local communities in the implementation of GFMC’s
fire management projects, in particular former fire-fighters, have
been significant for their success in the field.
The GFMC played a major role in mitigating the smoke crisis in
South East Asia in the late nineties, and recently supported the
Government of Ethiopia in managing a large scale fire disaster.
Its echo with national governments, in particular in developing
countries, is gaining weight, leading sometimes, as in the case
of Indonesia, to the creation of governmental institutions such
as the Indonesian Research Institute for Climate, Environment and
Society. The GFMC has also contributed to setting up a Private-Public-Partnership
(PPP) approach in involving commercial enterprises and suppliers
in disaster management, thereby widening the range of actors involved
in disaster management, in particular wildfire reduction.
Dr. Johann Goldammer,
Director of the GFMC and leader of the UN’s
Team of Specialists on Forest Fires, will receive the award on
behalf of the GFMC from pupils of the International School of Geneva
who are currently learning about natural disasters. A debate in
the presence of disaster reduction specialists from Costa Rica,
France and Nepal among others countries will also take place in
the presence of students in the field.
The
Jury also selected the Institute of Volcanology (PHIVOLCS) in Manila,
the Philippines, as well as Mr. Brian Ward, one of
the founding fathers of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre
(ADPC) in Bangkok, Thailand, and Professor Isaac Nyambok, from
Nairobi, Kenya, as recipients of Certificates of Distinction,
thereby paying tribute to their active involvement and contribution
to disaster reduction in their respective fields of activity.
The National Society of Earthquake Technology, Kathmandu, Nepal,
the Oficina Nacional de Emergencia (ONEMI), from Chile, the Comisión
Permanente de Contingencias (COPECO), Tegucigalpa, Honduras as
well as the Nyos-Monoun Degassing Programme Advisory Committee,
from Yaoundé, Cameroon were also selected by the Jury
to receive a Certificate of Merit.
Every year, on the second
Wednesday of October, the international community celebrates
the International Day for Disaster Reduction
through events worldwide destined to give concrete examples on
the measures which can be taken to reduce the negative impacts
of natural disasters on vulnerable communities. The celebration
of the Day is the culmination of the World Disaster Reduction Campaign
the UN organizes on a different theme every year. This year, the
campaign’s theme is “Countering Disasters; Targeting
Vulnerability”, with three sub-themes, namely “The
Role of Science and Technology in Disaster Reduction”, “Building
Disaster Resistant Infrastructures”, and “Mobilizing
Local Communities in Reducing Disasters”.
The field of Natural Disaster Reduction encompasses all the measures
which can be taken before disaster strikes. These range from disaster
prevention (avoiding the disaster all together) to disaster mitigation
(alleviating the impacts of the disaster) to disaster preparedness
(the last step of preparatory measures before disasters strike).
As mentioned in the
Secretary-General’s message on the International
Day for Disaster Reduction, “..peoples of the world have
begun to demand longer-term solutions in the wake of disasters
affecting their communities rather than rely solely on humanitarian
assistance. A large number of UN agencies and organizations such
as WMO, UNDP, UNEP, WHO, PAHO (Pan American Health Organization
- WHO) UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and others, together with regional
organizations and major NGOs are committed to collaborate within
the ISDR framework and join forces to bring together the multiple
facets of disaster reduction. In addition, the international community
needs to bring people and their expertise together and thus enable
solutions to be found, especially for those most in need.”
Many countries around
the world, regional organizations, non-governmental organizations,
local community groups and UN agencies participate
actively in the 2001 ISDR awareness raising campaign. In Tonga,
for example, events during an entire week have been organized to
inform the population on how to better protect itself from natural
disasters. In France, pupils, nationwide, are participating in
a risk mapping context organized by the UN, an exercise destined
to identify vulnerable communities. In India, Thailand and many
counties in Central and Latin America, exhibits, seminars and children’s
activities have been organized so as to highlight disaster reduction.
For more information on the above, please contact the International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretariat, Ms Nicole Appel,
Public Awareness Officer, tel 4122 917 97 06, fax 4122 917 98
90, email: appeln@un.org www.unisdr.org For more information
on GFMC,
please visit http://www.ruf.uni-freiburg.de/fireglobe/
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