Private Enterprise and Financial Markets > Environment > Disaster Risk Management
Inter-Agency Cooperation
Hemispheric Summit
The Bank participated actively in the theme of reduction of natural disasters in the Summit of the Americas of Quebec City April 2001. In the final Declaration the participating Heads of State indicate the following:
"We commit to strengthening hemispheric cooperation and national capacities to develop more integrated approach to the management of natural disasters. We will continue to implement policies that enhance our ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to the consequences of natural disasters. We agree to facilitate timely access to financial resources to address emergency needs."
In the Action Plan of the Summit the IDB, together with other agencies, was given the specific task to study the feasibility of different mechanisms to reduce and pool risk and instruments to facilitate contingent reconstruction financing and the immediate release of funds after a disaster. Private sector experiences in the development and application of risk management tools such as risk transfer instruments and vulnerability assessment methodologies should be applied. Risk reduction incentives for the private sector should be studied.
See: http://www.summit-americas.org/eng/quebec-summit1.htm
One of the follow-up actions indicated in the Action Plan was the organization of a Hemispheric Conference on disaster risk reduction. It took place in San Jose, Costa Rica in December 2001. The IDB was responsible for the theme of financing in the meeting. In four working groups sectoral specialists and representatives of governments discussed the theme of disaster related fundingw.
OAS System
Inter-American Committee for Natural Disaster Reduction (IANDR) was created November 1999 to act as a venue for information exchange on natural disaster reduction actions among the high level representatives of participating regional Latin American and Caribbean institutions within the OAS system. Its objective is to raise awareness of the importance of prevention and mitigation of natural disasters among policy makers, risk managers and civil society in partnership with the participating agencies. The Bank is presiding the Working Group on Finance of the IANDR.It is coordinating closely with PAHO and OAS led working groups on disaster preparedness and response, and vulnerability assessment and indexing for natural disasters.
The OAS formed also a Working Group on Mainstreaming Disaster Reduction in Development where the IDB has participated since 1999.
WMO
The Inter-American Development Bank is working with the World Meteorological Organization in a program to strengthen the capacity of Latin American and Caribbean nations to reduce the harmful social and economic effects of the periodic El Niño climate phenomenon through better scientific monitoring and meteorological forecasting.
The project is carried out by the WMO with the participation of the International Food Policy Research Institute, the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and consultants. The program includes evaluation of existing institutional and technical capabilities of national weather and climate forecasting organizations, diagnostic analyses of socio-economic vulnerabilities, and design of implementation plans and policy proposals.
See: http://www.wmo.ch/index-en.html
Working Group Three (UNDP-World Bank- IDB)
The three organizations are carrying out important projects developing indicators for the reduction of risk related to natural hazards.Co-operation between the project teams has been facilitated by Working Group Three (WG3) of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of the United Nations. The three projects are the Disaster Risk Indexing project (DRI) of the UNDP in partnership with UNEP-GRID; the "Hotspots" indexing project implemented by Columbia University and financed by the World Bank, under the umbrella of the ProVention Consortium, and the program called "Americas" carried out by the National University of Colombia in partnership with the IDB. In parallel the IDB is working with UN/ECLAC to improve information of natural hazard risk in the region.
See: http://idea.manizales.unal.edu.co/ProyectosEspeciales/BID/desc_gta.asp?IdActividadAcademica=32
