Foreword For Ad-Minister - Special Issue On: Disaster Risk Management And Business Education: Sustainable And Resilient Business 15/07/16
| Autor | Robert Glasser |
| Cargo | Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk |
| Páginas | 5-5 |
FOREWORD FOR AD-MINISTER – SPECIAL ISSUE ON:
DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS EDUCATION:
SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT BUSINESS 15/07/16
5
AD-MINISTER
An in-depth study carried out by the UN Office for Disaster
Risk Reduction (UNISDR) three years ago concluded that eco-
nomic losses from disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis,
cyclones and flooding were reaching an average of $250 bil-
lion to $300 billion per year.
It is clear that many countries would not pass a stress test
of their fiscal resilience to a 1-in-100 year loss. The question
has to be asked: How many businesses would pass such a test?
Small and medium enterprises are particularly at risk. A sin-
gle disaster can wipe out a business overnight. A 2013 survey
of disaster prone cities across the Americas showed that less
than 15% of companies with fewer than 100 employees had a
business continuity or crisis management plan in place.
In a world where climate change is playing havoc with
preconceived ideas about extreme weather events - their in-
tensity, regularity and geography - it is clear that the bar has to
be raised on the visibility and relevance of disaster risk manage-
ment as a key element of business strategy.
Disasters not only directly affect business performance
when critical infrastructure is destroyed and global supply
chains are disrupted, they affect employment opportunities and
the quality of life for people across the globe if private sector
investment in new cities and towns is not risk-informed.
Given replacement or repair costs, we cannot afford to
lose expensive critical infrastructure such as schools, hospitals,
roads and public utilities to hazards such as earthquakes and
floods. The same is true of manufacturing facilities which have
to close because they were built on a flood plain or at the bot-
tom of an unstable hillside.
We are still in the early days of engaging the private sector
in the overall effort to reduce disaster risk and disaster losses
but progress so far, including this volume, is promising. There is
now a clear commitment at the highest level across UN Mem-
ber States and in the UN family, to ensure that the private sec-
tor is fully engaged in disaster risk reduction efforts.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction that
was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster
Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, in March, 2015, makes clear
the important role that the private sector can and should play in
building resilience to disasters across the world.
The truth is that private investment largely determines di-
saster risk. In most economies 70% or more of overall invest-
ment is made by the private sector.
In 2015, the adoption of the Sendai Framework was the first
milestone of the 2030 Agenda. The others were the agreement
on Financing for Development, the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
These outcomes are mutually dependent because increasing
disaster risks, climate change, poverty and inequality are all
markers of unsustainability.
Escalating disaster losses magnified by climate change are
an increasing threat to low and middle-income countries, espe-
cially small island developing states, robbing them of resources
that could otherwise be invested in poverty eradication and oth-
er social expenditures in order to achieve the SDGs.
The Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies,
ARISE, was launched with a hundred members in November
2015, building on the success of earlier UNISDR sponsored ini-
tiatives with the global business community.
It is the launch platform for our engagement with the
private sector and aims to realise a substantial reduction in
economic losses from disasters and achieving reductions in di-
saster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic
services, as called for in the Sendai Framework.
UNISDR and ARISE, with support from the Federal Govern-
ment of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and De-
velopment (BMZ), partnered with Florida International Universi-
ty’s Extreme Events Institute (FIU-EEI) and 12 leading business
schools to introduce disaster risk management to curricula for
business students.
This present publication should give that initiative a wel-
come boost and raise awareness beyond the countries whose
academics have contributed so thoughtfully to the development
of the business case for disaster risk reduction. These include
Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru
and the United States.
I would like to thank the authors for their seminal contribu-
tions to advancing the incorporation of disaster risk manage-
ment in business school teaching and research.
Not only have the authors shed light on the business oppor-
tunities associated with disaster risk management, highlighting
the importance of business continuity in the education of future
managers, but they have also confirmed the importance of re-
search and alliances between academia, governments and the
private sector.
They have done the cause of resilience a great service.
Robert Glasser
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk
Reduction & Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
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