Dealing with Disasters and Climate Change

Climate change is a defining issue of our time. It brings into focus both how we treat the planet and how we treat each other – as fellow human beings – under a single lens.  

Addressing this issue will require fundamental changes, not least in the way we approach development aid.

Norway shares the sense of urgency as we witness the increase in climate-related humanitarian disasters. The higher frequency and greater intensity of natural hazards such as floods, droughts and hurricanes threaten to reverse the progress made in sustainable development. We may be facing extreme long-term vulnerabilities on an unprecedented scale.

The reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have shown that some of the most dramatic impacts of climate change will occur in countries that already have serious problems: countries characterised by weak governance structures, environmental degradation, poverty and violent conflict. The Working Group II report the IPCC released a year ago was an eye-opener for the world on the vulnerability of natural and human systems to climate change and the urgent need for adaptation measures. 

Already, rapidly expanding humanitarian budgets are unable to keep up with the rise in humanitarian needs triggered by natural disasters around the world. Soaring food prices and increasing populations, particularly in the world’s cities, will further widen the funding gap. We therefore need to see more proactive and concerted initiatives on adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction.   

A primary objective of both adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts must be to build resilience and capacity in vulnerable local communities. We need people-centred activities. We need simple, proven, cost-effective ways to reduce damage and losses within relatively short time frames. And harnessing the existing capabilities of women within these communities will be essential. 

National governments are responsible for defining and developing procedures and measures for strengthening disaster risk reduction, as set out in the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005–2015), i.e. the strategic framework for building resilience to disasters which was adopted by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. UN agencies, the World Bank and other international organisations are supporting this process. As are donors.  

But solutions that are designed globally have to be put into effect locally. We need to be more sensitive to the limited administrative capacities at the local level, and to the informal nature of vulnerable settlements and livelihoods, for example in rapidly growing slums and remote rural areas.

The Norwegian Government has pledged to fulfil Norway’s Kyoto obligations plus an extra 10 per cent. We will seek to strengthen international cooperation on adaptation measures. We are committed to actively follow up on the Bali Action Plan, with focus on both mitigation and adaptation.  

However, a gap exists between the political and financial approaches to climate change and disaster risk reduction. This gap needs to be bridged if we are to achieve our objectives. How we reduce vulnerability to and risks of disasters is an essential part of efforts to adapt to climate change. We need to improve coordination between these two communities as we move on from Bali to Copenhagen in 2009 and the next Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

The current funding of disaster risk reduction and adaptation efforts needs to be less fragmented if we are to meet the short, medium and long-term climate risk reduction needs. And these efforts must be treated as integral parts of the development process in line with the strategic framework for building resilience to disasters and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and both have to be fully reflected in the agreements to be adopted in Copenhagen in 2009.

Furthermore, success over the coming years will depend on how our disaster risk reduction experts are able to communicate with climate change experts both in the lead up to, and in the implementation phase after Copenhagen as disaster risk reduction has to be a significant part of this process. The disaster risk reduction community needs to get on ‘the climate change bus’ and learn to speak the language of the climate change negotiators if it is to have any impact.  

Norway’s ambition is to build long-term partnerships on adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and conflict management – bilaterally, multilaterally and regionally – and to stimulate South-South cooperation. In line with this policy, we co-sponsored the Oslo Policy Forum on these issues and we are co-sponsoring a Sino-Norwegian seminar on Natural Disaster Risk Reduction in Beijing in March. Together with our partners, we are committed to taking the global challenges of disaster risk reduction seriously.  

I believe we have to change the architecture of both foreign policy and development cooperation. Institutional silos must be broken down. We need to attune international action more closely to the needs and plans of local partners and national governments. For it is they who are worst affected by the problems, and it is they who have the key to solutions.