19 August 2022 (Chiangmai, Thailand)
One of the key discussions at the 15th Senior Disaster Management Officials Forum (SDMOF-15) held on 19 August 2022 in Chiangmai, Thailand focused on whether the APEC EPWG should update the 2015 APEC Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and the 2016 DRR Action Plan in the context of post-COVID-19 recovery.
It was noted that in 2015, APEC leaders adopted the APEC Disaster Risk Reduction Framework to contribute to the development of adaptive and disaster-resilient Asia-Pacific economies that are able to achieve inclusive and sustainable development in the face of disasters in a "new normal" context. The Framework, and its corresponding DRR Action Plan, recognizes that addressing the impacts of disasters requires holistic, more proactive, multi-stakeholder, multi-sectoral, and strategic interventions to make our economies more resilient. Hence, the Framework cuts across all areas of the APEC agenda, including agriculture, forestry, fisheries, trade and investments, energy, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), infrastructure development, critical infrastructure resiliency, financial resiliency, human capital, health, gender, food security, science and technology, and ecological integrity. After seven years of implementation, the economies of Chinese Taipei, the Philippines, and Chile expressed the need to review and update the documents.
Given this discussion, ADRC expressed support for updating the 2015 APEC Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and its corresponding DRR Action Plan to make these documents more responsive to post-pandemic recovery efforts in the region as well as to align them with the Putrajaya Vision 2040 and its corresponding Aotearoa Plan of Action (APA).
(2022/08/26 15:00)
