The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said that the rising incidence and severity of climate-related disasters are eroding progress on poverty reduction and other development gains in the Asia and the Pacific region.
These empirical findings point to the urgent need for action by national and local governments and communities to strengthen their preparation and resilience to natural disasters, improve adaptive capacities, and implement climate mitigation measures. To achieve this, disaster management needs to be viewed not as a cost, but as a necessary investment for saving lives and livelihoods, reducing disaster threats to critical infrastructure, and promoting sustainable and inclusive development.
Recent devastating floods and storms in Asia and the Pacific—notably in the Philippines, Thailand, India, Pakistan and Australia—have vividly highlighted how severe and frequent climate-related natural disasters are wreaking havoc on lives, livelihoods and property. The increased frequency of intense floods and storms has been observed amid the specter of climate change. Confronting the many development and policy challenges of climate impacts is an immediate concern and not one for the distant future.
The ADB is organizing a one day confronting the Rising Threat of Climate Disasters programme on June28, 2012 in Philippines which will go a long way to address the rising challenges and risks from climate-related natural disasters.
The panel of experts will discuss the increasingly pressing issues of post-disaster compensation in reconstruction and recovery, needed pre-disaster investments in risk reduction, as well as innovative disaster finance measures being discussed in the wider development community.
