UNISDR champion is new IPU President

GENEVA, 17 October 2014 - UNISDR Chief, Margareta Wahlstrom today welcomed the election of UNISDR champion and long-standing advocate for disaster risk reduction, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, as the new President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

She said: “UNISDR is pleased that someone who has been a long-time advocate for parliamentarians should be elected to this high office to press for greater political commitment and legislation for disaster risk reduction.

“The IPU is an important partner for UNISDR as we prepare for the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan next March. Parliamentarians around the world have a vital role to play in ensuring that the new post-2015 framework for disaster risk reduction is applied at national and local level to reduce existing levels of risk and avoid the creation of new risk. It is encouraging that the IPU members have chosen as their President someone with such an in-depth knowledge of disaster management from his career in Bangladesh and who clearly understands the links between climate change and disaster risk reduction.”

Mr. Chowdhury followed up his appointment as a UNISDR champion for disaster risk reduction by becoming a founder member of the UNISDR Global Advisory Group for parliamentarians in December 2011.

Speaking in a debate at the 128th Assembly of the IPU last year, Mr. Chowdhury said that disaster risk reduction is a strategic entry point for discussion of other issues including poverty, food security, education, health and water.

“Politics and public service is about helping people to solve their problems, to live their dreams. My belief is to always improve upon what you find and leave a better, more peaceful world. I will be an active president, accessible and leading from the front,” he said.