Phl leads signing of MOU on disaster risk reduction

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines led the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the sharing of best practices to reduce risk and vulnerability to natural hazards.

“Defying Disasters,” an innovative public-private partnership movement in Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America, was launched at a special event in Rio de Janeiro during the Rio+20 UN Summit on Sustainable Development on Tuesday by partners Colombia, Kenya and the Philippines.

This was announced by Climate Change Commission commissioner Heherson Alvarez, who led the signing of the MOU that forged an innovative south-south public-private partnership among the three countries.

In the MOU signed by representatives from Colombia, Kenya and the Philippines, the three countries agreed to join forces by sharing their best practices, promote indigenous techniques, and collaborate in developing new mechanisms and instruments “to reduce our risk and vulnerability to natural hazards.”

“Through this sharing of practices and collaboration, we agreed to improve our capacity to prepare and respond to immediate needs caused by natural and climate change-related disasters, as well as to recover from these disasters to a better situation than before, in our respective countries,” Alvarez, lead convenor of the partnership, said.

The MOU was signed by Alvarez, Ali Mohamed, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources of Kenya, and Viktor Sebek, executive director of the Inter-American Center for Peace and Security (ICPS) based in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

The United Nations, through its representatives, Margareta Wahlstrom, special representative of the secretary-general for disaster risk, and Amina Mohamed, deputy director of the United Nations Environment Program, lauded the new partnership and committed to support its objectives and initiatives.

Witnesses to the signing of the MOU were Wendy Watson Wright, executive director of Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, Philippine congressman and chairman of the ecology committee of Congress Dan Fernandez and Kenya’s Geoffre Mahungu, director general of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).