Political will – and money – needed for disaster management

Reporting on the United Nations 17th Conference of the Parties in Durban, Joshua Kyalimpa highlights for IPS the opinion of non-governmental organisations working in climate change on managing the impact of increased disasters due to climate change.

Professor Richard Klein, of the Stockholm Environment Institute, says people actually don’t have to rely on international agreements, "Local actions by the people need to be supported because they are the most vulnerable and are more likely to put effort into adaptation measures." Klein says risk management works best when tailored to local circumstances.

But Nurudeen Adebola Olanrewaju of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda asserts that more is needed to drive action, "Risk management requires actions, ranging from improving infrastructure to building individual and institutional capacity, in order to reduce risk and respond to disasters but these require money which politician must make available."