Opportunities for strengthening disaster risk management capacities in OAS Member States will be explored when the first meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction (IACNDR) gets underway at the Organization of American States (OAS) Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on September 24, 2007.
The meeting which is driven by mandates from previous OAS General Assemblies and reiterated at the most recent meeting of the General Assembly, in Panama, in June 2007, is expected to focus on exchanging information on existing areas of work, and the identification of priority areas of cooperation within the Inter-American System around such themes as climate change adaptation and community resilience.
The meeting will take account of the Inter-American Strategic Plan for Policy on Vulnerability Reduction, Risk Management and Disaster Response (IASP) and the UN/ISDR Hyogo Framework for Action.
The IACNDR comprises the Heads of the OAS, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the Pan-American Development Foundation (PADF) and the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB). In addition, the IACNDR statutes grant the OAS Secretary General power to invite other organizations, including those of the United Nations System and the World Bank.
OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Inzulza is confident that the meeting will be highly beneficial to OAS member countries.
“I have every confidence that the meeting will build effectively on the long history of collaboration that exists between Committee members in matters related to vulnerability reduction, disaster mitigation, climate change adaptation and integrated water resources management serves as an example of effective inter-institutional coordination.
The meeting will be followed by a press conference at which committee members will share their institutional perspectives on disaster risk management in the hemisphere.
