{"id":88965,"date":"2019-05-17T15:53:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T22:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88965"},"modified":"2019-05-17T15:53:34","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T22:53:34","slug":"statement-by-h-e-a-l-a-azeez-permanent-representative-of-sri-lanka-to-the-un-in-geneva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/17\/statement-by-h-e-a-l-a-azeez-permanent-representative-of-sri-lanka-to-the-un-in-geneva\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement by H.E. A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Co-Chairs, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ladies and Gentlemen, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At\nthe outset, we wish to express our sincere appreciation to the UNDRR and the\nGovernment of Switzerland for the effective joint stewardship of the Global\nPlatform. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since\nits adoption four years ago we recognize significant developments in the field\nof Disaster Rick Reduction, especially strategic planning and the use of\ntechnological advances. It is satisfying to note that over the last four years,\nrelentless efforts have been taken at national and global levels to ensure that\nwe move away from the practice of managing disasters to managing disaster risk\nreduction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nvibrant discourse today emphasizes the importance of benefits of inclusivity\nand sustainability going beyond just financial dividends. It provides us with a\nplatform to share experiences, understand challenges in fully integrating the Sendai\nFramework into our national policies and programmes, and to address it in the overall\ncontext of SDGs, the UN Urban Agenda and the Paris Climate Change Agreement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-Chairs,\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nunderstanding \u2018resilience dividends\u2019, we may need to look, beyond short term\nmonetary gains, into long-term socio-economic and environmental benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In\nSri Lanka, National Strategies for disaster risk reduction have been formulated\nfor the period of 2019-2030 and the national policy on disaster risk management\nhas been revised thus enabling risk-informed implementation and monitoring of\nthe 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate\nChange. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Disaster Management Centre\n(DMC) is working with the National Planning Department on establishing online\nDamage and Loss Reporting System, covering 13 major sectors. <\/li><li>an insurance scheme against\nnatural disasters for all houses, Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs (SMEs) through\nNational Insurance Trust Fund, <\/li><li>The National Building Research\nOrganization and Institute of\nConstruction Training and Development are working to introduce National\nBuilding Codes for disaster-resilient construction.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>A project\nhas been initiated to introduce guidelines for 10 major sectors to mainstream disaster\nrisk reduction and development sectors <\/li><li>National\nand local level programmes on mainstreaming DRR into the education sector have\nbeen initiated with the support of the Ministry of Education, national\nuniversities are conducting M.Sc. programmes and postgraduate diploma\nprogrammes in Disaster Risk Management. <\/li><li>A Muti-Hazard Risk index has\nbeen completed by the Government.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A stakeholder approach\nthat is essential for the success of SDGs, is being actively encouraged and\npursued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka recognizes\nthe importance of risk-sensitive economic planning and coherence building\nbetween climate and DRR policies to better achieve SDGs. Towards this end, we are currently working on an \u2018online damage and\nloss assessment system\u2019 for all sectors, in light of the Warsaw International\nMechanism on Loss and Damage and other standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Government\nof Sri Lanka is in the process of implementing a Climate-Resilient Integrated\nWater Management Project.&nbsp; This project\nis aimed to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable smallholder farmers in the\nDry Zone of Sri Lanka, particularly women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ensuring sustainable\nurban life, economic and spiritual wellbeing and decent living in harmony with Nature\nremains a foremost national priority. In line with this priority, the Megapolis\nand Western Development Ministry, for instance, implements a number of targeted\nsustainable infrastructure development projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Climate&nbsp;Resilience&nbsp;Improvement&nbsp;Project,\nis mainly focused on contributing towards building a more climatic-resilient\neconomy.&nbsp; Project support to implement\nurgent climate mitigation investments is important to ensure the short-term\nintegrity of flood control and irrigation infrastructure, transport network and\ncritical education facilities at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An important priority is to optimize coordination\nthroughout the entire disaster management cycle and to sharpen the focus on the\ndisaster emergency response stage. A great emphasis on planning of a long-term recovery\nprocess would no doubt help enhance community and stakeholder resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increased\nefforts are currently underway to improve knowledge management, information\nsharing, and establishing coordination and coherence among the relevant institutions\nand programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sharing\ntechnology and assuring funding support through partnerships, as part of strengthened\ninternational cooperation, will go a long way in effectively addressing climate-induced\nlosses and damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other\nthan natural disasters, Sri Lanka has also faced cycles of complex man-made\nemergencies in the past decades, and we have always demonstrated our ability to\nrise stronger after these disasters.&nbsp; Last\nmonth\u2019s Easter-Sunday terrorist attacks shocked and devastated my country, making\nus re-orient our immediate priorities drastically. Our national efforts are now\nfocused on how best and how rapidly we could rise again. In the coming months,\nwe would bounce back with renewed vigor, and emerge even stronger,\ndemonstrating our collective resolve and resilience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nthank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Co-Chairs, Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, At the outset, we wish to express our sincere appreciation to the UNDRR and the Government of Switzerland for the effective joint stewardship of the Global Platform. &nbsp; Since its adoption four years ago we recognize significant developments in the field of Disaster Rick Reduction, especially strategic planning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}