Caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan on Wednesday stressed the need for devising a coordinated strategy in collaboration with global organizations to overcome common challenges related to climate change.
He said this while addressing the inaugural session of three-day international conference on "Capitalizing on Pakistan's experience in handling disasters, creating synergies among global frameworks lessons learnt and the way forward," held here by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Pakistan.
He said that preemptive strategy for disaster risk reduction is a must for ensuring safety to human lives and properties in face of natural calamities and climatic catastrophes.
Khan observed that Asia-Pacific region in general and Pakistan in particular is prone to a multitude of disasters and therefore, special measures are needed to handle these recurring disasters from changing weather pattern.
He said that Pakistan has a vast and diverse experience of coping with disasters, stating that other countries of the region can learn from Pakistan's expertise in this field.
He said that Pakistan has incurred huge losses due to natural calamities; however, it is now fully capable to deal with such situations through lessons learnt. The government is committed to helping the NDMA in reducing disaster risks.
He lauded the NDMA for hosting such an important conference for countering disasters and reducing risks. He said that disaster management is on the focus of Pakistan and a mechanism is being devised for playing leading role in this regard as the country has been vulnerable to disasters.
In his address, Chairman NDMA Lieutenant General Omer Mahmood Hayat said that Pakistan is amongst those few countries that developed their own long-term disaster management plans in 2013.
Hayat said that the disaster management system in the country has been improved. He said the system has been playing an important role in proving firsthand aid to the people affected by disasters.
He further stated, "We strongly believe that disaster risk reduction approach is imperative for building resilience and sustainable development, especially for developing countries like Pakistan."
Sendai Framework for DRR and Paris Climate Change Agreement provide unique opportunity to move towards the vision for risk sensitive development as cornerstone for sustainability, he added.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director Pakistan, Ignacio Artaza assured the UN support for policies that target both natural resource management and climate change mitigation at national, provincial and community levels.
Swiss Ambassador to Pakistan Thomas Kolly said that Pakistan is playing an important role in dealing with floods and other calamities in the region.
The conference will be followed by 6th meeting of regional technical group of Disaster Management Confidence Building Measures (DM-CBM) of Heart of Asia, Istanbul Process. The NDMA Pakistan is co-hosting DM-CBM along with Kyrgyzstan.
The participants of meetings will be discussing upon three sub-themes, "Pakistan's experience in managing mega disaster," "lessons to be learnt" and "analyzing related global frameworks for resilience with the aim to create synergies and strengthen risk governance."
Three days exhaustive discussions at this forum will provide a great opportunity for NDMA to understand the challenges and emerging requirements for effective implementation of risk-sensitive sustainable development strategies that are needed to be contextualized to the specific disaster risks facing Pakistan.