TOP OFFICIALS CREDIT UN FOR BOLSTERED SECURITY IN TIMOR-LESTE

The leaders of Timor-Leste thanked the United Nations for its support in restoring security, but cautioned that the situation in the small nation remains fragile since it was rocked by violent clashes three years ago.

In April 2006, fighting – attributed to differences between eastern and western regions – erupted in the capital, Dili, when 600 striking soldiers, or one-third of the armed forces, were fired. The ensuing violence claimed 40 lives and drove more than 100,000 people, at least 10 per cent of the total population, from their homes.

"It's easy to forget how far we have come in a short time," President José Ramos-Horta said in the capital, Dili, at an event at the headquarters of the UN Integrated Mission (UNMIT) marking the three-year anniversary of an enhanced UN presence in the country.

"For that we must give significant credit to the United Nations Police working together with their PNTL [Timor-Leste National Police] colleagues," he added.

Regarding those who are still living in makeshift shelters three years after the riots, Mr. Ramos-Horta said he aims to "resolve all outstanding issues of those remaining the in last camps in the coming months."

The political, humanitarian and security breakdown in the wake of the 2006 unrest led the UN Security Council to establish a peacekeeping presence, whose mandate was recently renewed to focus on the four critical areas of security sector reform, strengthening of rule of law, justice and human rights, democratic governance and social and economic development.

"In only three years since the crisis, people have regained trust and confidence in each other and in State institutions, consolidated peace and stability through national dialogue and reconciliation initiatives," stressed Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão.

Calling for the continued support of the UN, the Prime Minister underscored the need "to work harder to bring economic development to consolidate stability, to create jobs and to improve the lives of the Timorese people."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative to Timor-Leste, Atul Khare, highlighted the need to recognize "the progress made by the people of Timor-Leste in overcoming the dark days of 2006."

The third anniversary of the crisis can be an occasion for optimism, he added, noting that "it becomes a statement about the strong partnership and unique relationship between Timor-Leste and the United Nations."

In a related development, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a campaign working closely with a mix of Government agencies, civil society groups and academia to create public awareness of the adverse effects of climate change in Timor-Leste.

The centerpiece of the initiative is the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), a $200,000 two-year project funded by the Global Environment Facility with additional contribution of $ 20,000 from the Government.

As the issue of climate change gains prominence in the country, NAPA will advance understanding on how changes in temperature, rainfall and extreme events are affecting people's lives, and what can be done to help.

UNDP Country Director Akbar Usmani applauded the Government for taking the lead in dealing with the issue of climate change in the country in a "rapid and efficient" way, fulfilling its responsibilities since acceding to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2007.

"UNDP recognizes the seriousness of global climate change and the threats that it poses to human development. We are calling for a new development paradigm – one which integrates climate change risks into development planning at all levels and, at the same time, helps countries to move towards less carbon intensive economies," he said.

Experts say that Timor-Leste is highly vulnerable to natural disasters and other weather anomalies associated with droughts. The country is also prone to floods, landslides and soil erosion resulting from the combination of heavy monsoon rain, steep topography and widespread deforestation.
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UN-BACKED CONFERENCE TO EXPLORE GENDER ANGLE OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Men and women need to work together as equal partners to protect their communities against disasters, particularly as climate change makes storms, floods, and cyclones more frequent and severe, according to the United Nations unit on risk reduction.

Unfortunately, however, the sexes are now affected quite differently, with women more frequently victims, according to the announcement of a conference on the topic by the UN International Strategy for Risk Reduction (ISDR).

ISDR says that 90 per cent of the people killed in the 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh were women and African-American women were among the worst-affected when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.

"Women do not have to be the main victims of disasters they can be an incredible asset and make a real difference in saving lives if they can play a bigger role in preventing and managing disasters" says Margareta Wahlström, Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The International Conference on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction, opening on Monday in Beijing, China, will explore how women and men can participate equally in driving early warning systems, risk assessments, preparedness exercises and national and local plans to implement disaster risk reduction policies.

More than 200 participants, among them ministers and parliamentarians from 50 countries, are expected to attend the three-day conference.

It is expected to reach consensus on a set of nine achievable actions that will be part of the "Beijing Declaration for Action" to be implemented by 2015.
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UN ENVOY FOR HAITI URGES SPEEDY DISBURSAL OF DONOR PLEDGES

Hailing pledges worth nearly $325 million for Haiti's reconstruction and development made at a donor conference in Washington last week, the top United Nations envoy to the impoverished country today expressed hope the funds will be quickly disbursed.

"I hope that commitments made at the meeting will materialize very rapidly to begin implementation of plans presented by the Haitian Government," Hédi Annabi, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative, said.

He added that the goal was "not only to respond to the needs for immediate reconstruction after the storms of 2008, but also to attract indispensable investments that would help put the country on a trajectory of sustainable development."

The Special Representative, who also heads the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), stressed that improving the economic and social situation was essential to consolidating stability in the country.

He said that he was impressed not only by the results of the conference, but also by the strong attendance there, including high officials of 28 bilateral and multilateral partners, as well as the Secretary-General.

"The engagement of donors is a good beginning, particularly in the current international economic context," Mr. Annabi said.

"This involvements illustrates the political will of the international community in Haiti to work together to encourage investment and the creation of employment in the country," he said.

Secretary-General Ban, who visited the country with former United States President Bill Clinton last month, said at the conference that the country stands a better chance than almost any emerging economy, not only to recover from instability and natural disasters but to prosper, because of new, favourable US trade legislation.

To lock in the gains, however, he said that the Government requires additional short-term technical and financial assistance.

"I firmly believe that Haiti is poised to make more progress over the next two years than it has made in the past two decades," Mr. Ban told a major donor conference hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington.

Reasserting that the country is now at a turning point, a message he has been stressing since his visit there last month, he added that "for all of us, this is the moment, a break-out moment, to help one of the poorest nations lift itself toward a future of real economic prospects and genuine hope."

Following many years of unrest and high crime, last summer's storms have left $1 billion – equivalent to 15 per cent of Haiti's gross domestic product (GDP) – of damage in their wake.

The global recession has further eroded the country's socio-economic situation, with remittances, which bring three times the amount of funds to Haiti as international aid, plummeting 14 per cent.
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UN URGES STATES TO STRENGTHEN LIFE-SAVING FACILITIES TO BETTER WITHSTAND DISASTERS

The United Nations today marked World Health Day today with an urgent call for greater investment in hospitals and other health care facilities that play a critical role in saving lives of survivors in the immediate aftermath of humanitarian crises.

In his message commemorating the Day, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that "when disaster strikes, well-prepared, functioning medical services are a priority.

"Hospitals, clinics and other health facilities must react swiftly and efficiently [and] they must provide safe havens, and not become disaster zones themselves," in the event of floods, earthquakes, the outbreak of infectious diseases and other natural or man-made disasters, Mr. Ban said.

This year's World Health Day campaign – "Save lives, make hospitals safe in emergencies" – is a global call to countries to prepare their health systems for emergencies, he said.

Highlighting the need to protect public health by designing and building facilities that can withstand natural disasters, the Secretary-General said that when "a hospital collapses in an earthquake, burying patients and staff, the human cost multiplies."

"When an infectious disease spreads because a hospital is poorly ventilated or constructed, or because health care workers lack adequate training, we are failing people at their most vulnerable," he added.

The UN World Disaster Reduction Campaign for 2008-2009 has pooled the efforts of the World Heath Organization (WHO), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the World Bank to produce durable health facilities that can stand up to disasters, such as cyclones and earthquakes, said Mr. Ban.

In addition, "we must also ensure they are not targeted during conflicts. Health care workers must be trained to work safely in emergencies, so they can save lives, rather than becoming victims themselves."

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said that it costs "surprisingly little" to build hospitals that can stand up to the shocks of earthquakes, floods, or high winds.

"It costs even less to retrofit existing facilities to keep their services running at critical times [and] it costs almost nothing to integrate risk management and emergency preparedness into a hospital's operational plans," she added in her own statement marking World Health Day.

In South-East Asia more than half a million people lost their lives to natural disasters between 1996 and 2005, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the global total death toll from natural disasters during that period, according to WHO.

The agency reported that in Aceh, Indonesia, 61per cent of health facilities were damaged or completely destroyed by the 2004 tsunami and cyclone Nargis destroyed 57 per cent of public health facilities in the affected areas in Myanmar last year.

"In some cases, although a facility remains standing, it is still rendered non-functional. Non-structural lifelines such as water and power supply must not fail," said Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia.

"A safe and functional health facility needs contingency plans and a well-trained health workforce ready to deal with emergencies," he added.

Member States in the region have taken steps to make health facilities safer during a disaster with the "Twelve Benchmarks for Emergency Preparedness," a complete set of standards and checklists for making new and existing health facilities more robust created in collaboration with WHO.
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ASIA-PACIFIC NATIONS TO BOOST EFFORTS TO CURB DISASTER RISK – UN

Nations in Asia and the Pacific – the world's most disaster-prone region – will bolster their cooperation to share information on disaster risk reduction, a new United Nations-backed commission has agreed.

The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 42 per cent of the world's natural disasters and a disproportionate 65 per cent of global disaster victims.

More than 200 representatives from governments, international organizations, non-governmental groups and the private sector attended the first-ever meeting of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction (CDRR), set up last year by the 62 member nations of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The participants noted that knowledge of disaster risk reduction is dispersed and out of reach from those who set policy.

The Committee asked that ESCAP promote partnerships with UN entities such as the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), along with regional organizations, to better assist member countries.

Such cooperation "provides the opportunities to respond jointly to the needs of governments and communities to reduce the risks and vulnerability to extreme weather events, which is becoming more urgent with the impacts expected from climate change," said Salvano Briceño, UNISDR Director.

He added that the Committee will promote the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action, a 10-year plan to bolster the ability of nations and communities to respond to disasters agreed upon by 168 nations in 2005.
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COOPERATION AMONG ASIA-PACIFIC NATIONS CRITICAL TO REDUCE DISASTER RISK – UN

Collaboration between Governments in Asia and the Pacific is key to saving lives from natural disasters in the world's most prone region, a senior United Nations official stressed today at the first session of a new committee on disaster risk reduction.

The vulnerable Asia-Pacific region accounts for 42 per cent of the world's natural disasters, and a disproportionate 65 per cent of its victims.

In 2008 alone, almost a quarter of a million people died as a result of natural disasters in the region, representing 97 per cent of fatalities worldwide.

"Natural disasters pose a significant challenge to development in our region," said UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Executive Secretary Noeleen Heyzer, in her opening address to the three-day meeting.

"A person living in our region is four times more likely to be affected by natural disasters than someone living in Africa and 25 times more likely then someone living in Europe or North America," Ms. Heyzer told participants of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction (CDRR), which was formed by ESCAP.

At a high-level round table, delegates exchanged knowledge and experience with disaster risk reduction, and discussed the implications of integrating it into economic and social development planning and policy.

The group concluded that as complex information regarding danger, vulnerability and resources is spread throughout the region and often out of reach of decision-makers, cooperation is critical to effectively reduce the loss of lives and the social, economic and environmental impact of disasters.

Ms. Heyzer said that ESCAP would establish a mechanism for sharing information among disaster risk management authorities in the region, as well as produce the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report, which brings together information from Member States, provides socio-economic analysis of disaster risk reduction trends, identifies good practices, evaluates the state of reduction efforts in the region and highlights future priorities and trends.

Participants at the round table included ministers and senior officials responsible for disaster management from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Pakistan, Republic of Korea and Thailand.
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