Two-day Event on Disaster Risk Management at the OAS

Monday, November 24, 2014

The Third Hemispheric Encounter, which is being organized and presented with the financial support of the US Department of State through its Permanent Mission to the OAS, will explore practical experiences in Disaster Risk Management in key sectors, based on case studies and exchanges of good practices in three selected subregions in the Americas: (i) the Central American Isthmus and the Dominican Republic, (ii) the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and (iii) the Andean States members of the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Relief (CAPRADE).

On the first day of the two-day event on Disaster Risk Management at the OAS, a meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Natural Disasters Reduction (IACNDR) will be convened by the Secretary General of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, to identify opportunities at the policy and program level for enhancing cooperation among agencies of the Inter-American System and other relevant institutions, including the secretariat of UNISDR and OCHA, and sub-regional specialized IGOs. On the second day, OCHA and its Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean will conduct a consultation as part of the Regional Consultations for the UN World Humanitarian Summit that will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2016.

Objective of the Hemispheric Encounter: The Third Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High-level Authorities on Sustainable Development
The main objective of the Third Hemispheric Encounter is to exchange practical experience on Disaster Risk Management on the basis of the discussions and analysis undertaken in the three subregions, as discussed above. This exchange is expected to foster horizontal cooperation opportunities and closer collaboration among OAS Member States as well as agencies of the Inter-American System, subregional specialized IGO, and agencies of the UN System.

The Third Hemispheric Encounter is being organized and presented in the context of the preparatory process for the Third Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High-level Authorities on Sustainable Development, which will take place in October of 2015, in Honduras. Thus, the outputs of this Hemispheric Encounter will feed into that process, providing recommendations for action to be included in the revised Inter-American Program for Sustainable Development (PIDS) to be approved at the Ministerial meeting.

Another objective of the Encounter is to provide an opportunity to further reflect on the on-going discussions and consultations for the post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction of the UN, led by the secretariat of UNISDR, and provide inputs to the consultation process towards the UN World Humanitarian Summit, facilitated by OCHA.