Guest speakers:
- Bhiamie Williamson | Research Fellow, Fire to Flourish, Monash University
- Joanna Quilty | CEO, NSW Council of Social Services
- Loriana Bethune | Research and Innovation Manager, Gender and Disaster Australia
- Bronwyn Lay | Climate and Disaster Lead, Federation of Community Legal Centres
Moderator:
- Dr Margaret Moreton | Executive Director, AIDR
About the theme: Fighting inequality for a resilient future
In 2023, the International Day looked at the reciprocal relationship between disasters and inequality. Inequality and disaster vulnerability are two sides of the same coin: unequal access to services, such as finance and insurance, leaves the most at risk exposed to the danger of disasters; while disaster impacts exacerbate inequalities and push the most at risk further into poverty.
The 2023 edition took place after the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, where the UN General Assembly in May 2023 adopted a political declaration to accelerate action to strengthen disaster resilience.
Key messages:
- Poverty, inequality and discrimination are causes and consequences of growing disaster risk.
- Inequality creates the conditions that render people exposed and vulnerable to disasters. Disasters also disproportionately impact the poorest and most at risk people, thus worsening inequality. Reducing vulnerability to disasters requires addressing these dimensions
- By 2030, with current climate projections, the world will face some 560 disasters per year. An additional estimated 37.6 million people will be living in conditions of extreme poverty due to the impacts of climate change and disasters by 2030. A “worst case” scenario of climate change and disasters will push an additional 100.7 million into poverty by 2030.
- We can curb the destructive power of hazards—in other words, stop them from turning into disasters—through careful and coordinated planning that is designed to reduce people’s exposure and vulnerability to harm.
- Greater investments are needed in the collection and use of disaggregated data, both to better understand disproportionate disaster impacts and exposure, and to inform resilience-building plans.
- Countries must engage, build capacity and empower groups in all DRR decision making processes. Countries must ensure that the most at risk, including women, older persons and persons with disabilities are meaningfully included.
Source: UNDRR 2023
Click here to view links referred to by the webinar speakers