Climate change is contributing to more frequent and deadlier natural disasters and governments need to speed up measures to mitigate their impact, according to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

John Holmes, who recently visited Indonesia after the deadly earthquakes off West Sumatra and Padang, warned there would be more intense typhoons, flooding, droughts and forest fires because of climate change.

“Look at the trend. How many [disasters] there are and how bad they are, not only here but also in Central America, and it's perfectly clear what's happening and that's what scientists said would happen,” Holmes, also the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, told IRIN news service.

“To me, that means there's a link between climate change and more frequent disasters.”

The Asian region has been hit by several disasters in recent weeks, including devastating floods in the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Nepal, affecting millions. A major tsunami in the South Pacific devastated the islands of Samoa and American Samoa.

Given this, governments should be better prepared and take measures to reduce the impact, Holmes said.

“That means people not living in areas that are flood-[prone]; it means making sure buildings are not in areas that are flood-[prone].”

He also urged disaster-prone Asian countries to spend one-tenth of their development funds on efforts to reduce disaster risks.

Disaster hotspot

Officials say Asia Pacific is the world’s disaster hotspot – a person living in this region is four times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than someone in Africa, and 25 times more likely than someone in Europe or North America, according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“Our region experienced 42 per cent of the world’s natural disasters between 1999 and 2008,” said Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary General and ESCAP Executive Secretary.

“Studies have shown that for every dollar invested in risks associated with disaster, between four and seven dollars can be saved. Investing in disaster risk reduction and prevention measures is not only a moral imperative, it is financially smart,” she said in a statement.

Terje Skavdal, head of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said there was growing recognition that disaster preparedness is key.

“Thirty years ago, almost none of the Asian countries had a clear, defined disaster management authority in place. Today, nearly all countries in Asia have that. We do see that a number of nations have made a lot of investment in improving their preparedness,” Skavdal told IRIN news service.

Regional pact

Spurred on by the 2004 tsunami, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have ratified a regional, legally binding disaster pact, which will come into force by December.

The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response promotes regional collaboration and cooperation in reducing disaster losses and strengthening joint emergency responses.

The agreements allows for disaster risk identification, monitoring and early warning, prevention and mitigation, preparedness and response, and technical cooperation and research.

Role of NHRIs

A major report examining the link between the environment and human rights has urged national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to work closely with their respective governments to bolster national disaster preparedness, response and relief procedures.

These should include measures to accommodate displaced persons in a culturally appropriate manner.

Prepared by the APF’s Advisory Council of Jurists, the 2008 report makes a number of specific recommendations to guide the work of NHRIs in the Asia Pacific region, where climate change is predicted to have a potentially devastating impact on the physical and social landscape.

The report makes the key point that many fundamental human rights – such as the right to life and health – require a healthy and sustainable environment if they are to be fully realised.

Read more

• Human Rights and the Environment, Report of the APF’s Advisory Council of Jurists
• Climate change worsening disasters, says UN, IRIN News
• Disasters underline urgent need for more groundwork, IRIN News