The 4th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) will be held in Songdo, Incheon on Oct. 25 for a three-day run under the main theme of "disaster risk reduction through climate change adaptation."
"Along with ministers for disaster management from 62 nations, more than 800 participants will attend the international conference to discuss the mutual cooperation and common resolution in the Asian region for disasters induced by climate change, such as typhoon and heavy rain,” a top official of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said.
"Among those to participating in the event are three heads of state - the Prime Ministers from Nepal, Bhutan and Vietnam, representatives from UN agencies, the Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Commissioner of the European Commission, and representatives of NGOs," Park Yeon-soo, Administrator of NEMA, said in an interview with Korea IT Times.
AMCDRR is the only official international ministerial conference for disaster management in the Asian region. It has been sponsored by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) secretariat since 2005 for disaster risk reduction in the Asian region after the tsunami occurred in South Asia in December 2004.
Purpose of 4th AMCDRR
Asked about the purpose of this conference, Park said, "Although the need for the global joint response to climate change is increasing, global cooperation is still insignificant, as shown in the COP15.”
"Particularly, globally 38 percent of the disasters happen in Asia. However, 90 percent of the global disaster victims are found in Asia. Therefore, Asia is the most vulnerable area, and because of the difference in the disaster management systems and technical levels, it is difficult to draw practical cooperation."
The NEMA head said, "The main purpose of the 4th AMCDRR is to derive agreement for common response to the disasters induced by climate change in the Asian area for the first time."
Incheon REMAP and Action Plan
Noting that participants in the meeting are expected to agree on the Incheon REMAP and Action Plan, Park said, "It is an action plan composed of five-year projects implemented to change each nation's disaster management system into a "disaster management system with climate change adaptation."
He explained that it reorganizes the disaster prevention standard and vulnerability analysis through systematic study of disaster status and climate ideas in the Asia-Pacific area, in order to strengthen disaster management capacity.
"It trains climate change adaptation and disaster prevention experts through education and training for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, targeting officials and stakeholders of each nation," he said.
"The plan is also designed to introduce a global website and technology related to climate change and disaster prevention by building a climate change adaptation technology-information platform, and improve response capability by sharing good and bad cases for large disasters," Park added.
“It is organized by preparing guidelines for the development policy decision makers for the transformation into a development paradigm which takes into consideration disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation,” he said.
Expected outcome of 4th AMCDRR
On the expected outcome of the 4th AMCDRR, Administrator Park said, "Korea can secure leadership in the disaster prevention area in relation to climate change through hosting the Asian ministerial conference and agreeing on the disaster risk reduction through climate change adaptation declaration.”
"Especially, the country can derive preemptive international disaster prevention guidelines for climate change disasters through suggesting and agreeing on the Incheon REMAP and Action Plan for the Asian region in this conference, and enhance national prestige by building a climate change information and technology sharing platform," he said.
"As a means of contributing to disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region, NEMA will provide Korea's excellent up-to-date disaster prevention systems, such as TCDIS, earthquake disaster response system free of charge to each nation," he noted.
"At the same time, we hope to utilize this conference as opportunity for international marketing and export through introducing disaster prevention and climate change adaptation technology using Korea's developed Information Technology by hosting the Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Exhibition (2010 CADRE), along with the 4th AMCDRR," Park said.
2010 CADRE consists of four pavilions with specific themes - the Four-river Special hall, the Climate Change Adaptation hall, the Storm and Flood Damage Prevention hall, and the Earthquake Disaster Prevention hall.”
"Through this, we hope to export Korea's excellent technology related to climate change countermeasures and green growth to Asian countries in the near future," he said.
Asked about the secret of Korea's success in hosting the 4th AMCDRR, the NEMA chief said, "Korea participated in the 3rd AMCDRR in Malaysia in December 2008. Recognizing that hosting the conference is very important, in that Korea is promoting climate change as a new paradigm for national growth power."
Former NEMA vice administrator, currently NEMA Administrator Park, ensured the nation's hosting of the next conference by actively competing with Iran and Indonesia at that time.
Operation of the conference
Commenting that the main conference will be divided into High-Level Round Table (HLRT) and Technical Sessions (TS), the NEMA head said the outcomes from the TS will be confirmed and agreed upon in the HLRT.
"Through operating side events on Oct. 25 and during the entire Conference period, we will prepare a place to be able to discuss issues on disasters other than the climate change disasters.
"Particularly, Korea is planning to discuss automatic response methods for disasters, such as earthquake, which are global issues, through events, such as the 'Earthquake Disaster Prevention System,' and the 'Automated Damage Investigation System," he noted.
Characteristics of the 4th AMCDRR
On the difference between the 4th AMCDRR and the previous AMCDRR, Park said, "This conference is willing to break from the previous ideal and declaratory international conference, and instead, willing to prepare practical solutions for problems faced by each nation due to climate change all together. In order to do so, this conference will derive the Incheon REMAP and Action Plan, composed of specific projects to be implemented by Asian-Pacific nations in the coming five years."
Park continued to say, "For this, we have organized a task force team for the 4th AMCDRR in March 2009, and have continuously developed and agreed on the conference agenda by participating in various international conferences in the past two years. In particular, we discussed the agenda at a total of seven conferences, including the IAP Meeting, Global Platform, and APEC."
"Especially, for the agreement on the conference outcomes (declaration, road map and action plan), we have hosted a Technical Meeting in July 2010 in Bangkok and a Preparatory Meeting in August 2010 in Songdo, Incheon, and derived agreement from the working-level disaster experts around the world and the Asia-Pacific region," he stressed.
He said, "Also, by categorizing the nations into three different sessions based on one's interest, we are expecting to enhance active concentration and participation of the nations in the main conference."
3rd Emergency Management CEOs' Forum
Ahead of the 4th AMCDRR, the third Emergency Management CEOs' Forum was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from Sept. 14 to 18. About 150 representatives from 12 Asian and Pacific nations and 10 UN Organizations attended the forum, including Kim Yong-kyun, director of NEMA.
The main purpose of the international forum was to propel bilateral talks among representatives from Australia, Indonesia, Peru, Vietnam and the U.S. Korean delegates introduced Korea's disaster prevention policy to cope with climate change and the contents of the 4th Asian Ministerial Conference on disaster risk and reduction to be held in Songdo, Incheon in October.
They explained Korea's disaster management technology using IT in order to cope with climate change and topics, schedules and success strategies for the 4th AMCDRR. Participants in the forum also discussed the climate change-related role of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). They also exchanged views on disaster risk and relevant management in the Asian-Pacific region.
Korean delegates, meanwhile, discussed ways to promote bilateral cooperation between Korea and APEC while attending the APEC high-level forum coordination committee meeting.
Participants in the APEC high-level forum coordination committee meeting declared that they recognized the importance of the 4th AMCDRR to be held in Korea. Delegates of Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand held the tripartite talks on Sept. 15. Korea's NEMA Director Kim explained topics, timetables and concrete strategies of the 4th AMCDRR to his Vietnamese and New Zealand counterparts.
At the meeting, Korea and Vietnam agreed to closely cooperate on disaster prevention technology using IT based on the Typhoon Committee Disaster Information System (TCDIS). Director Kim also held talks with Anthony Charles Pearce, Director for Disaster Management of Australia, and a delegate from Peru. At the talks, Australia requested that Korea participate in the APEC Task Force on Emergency Preparedness (TFEP) Forum and bolster cooperation in disaster management.
In the meeting with Mr.Tabrani, the representative from Indonesia, both sides shared the view that Korea and Indonesia will designate the "focal point" for disaster management and seek cooperation on exchanges of relevant information and technology.
