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Your excellency Minister of Local Affairs and Environment, Dr. Riadh Mouakhar,
Your excellency, Ambassador Josefa Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union,
Your excellency, Abdellatif Abid, Assistant Secretary General, League of Arab States,
Honourable Ministers,
Representatives of Member States, Intergovernmental Organizations and Stakeholder Groups,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour to be here today to address you at the Opening Ceremony of this first ever joint Africa-Arab Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction.
At the outset, I would like to thank the Prime Minister, the Government of Tunisia and the people of this hospitable country for hosting this Conference and ensuring all the support necessary for a successful event.

I would like to extend my condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in last month’s heavy rains and flash floods.

This was yet another example of a trend that has seen a doubling of extreme weather events across the world over the last forty years.

There are few parts of the world which have felt the brunt of climate change more acutely than Africa and the Arab States.

Drought is one of the most common natural hazards in both Africa and the Arab States and food insecurity is a constant concern.

The number of undernourished people across the world has risen for the third year in a row. Severe food insecurity appears to be increasing in almost all sub-regions of Africa.

It is very worrying to note that conflict and disasters are driving food insecurity and displacement in many countries across both Africa and the Arab states.

It is striking that these two regions combined accounted for 10.4 million people internally displaced by conflict last year and that a further 1.3 million were displaced by weather-related hazards.

It is becoming increasingly difficult in some settings to separate climate-related concerns from other drivers of conflict therefore it is important that disaster risk reduction in a fragile and conflict context, will be the subject of a special session tomorrow.

We are also meeting during a week when two important reports have been issued on the present and future impacts of extreme weather events.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its report on global warming at 1.5˚C which emphasizes the benefits of not exceeding that target in the Paris Agreement on climate change.

If the world can achieve that target by reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, we can avoid hundreds of millions of people being plunged into poverty, and reduce risks across the energy, food and water sectors.

This is especially the case in least developed countries which contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is likely to act as a risk multiplier with sea level rise, prolonged drought and desertification, affecting large parts of these two regions.

A UNISDR report also released this week, “Economic Losses, Poverty and Disasters demonstrates that over the last twenty years, in a world at one degree Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels, 91% of major reported disaster events have been climate-related and Africa and the Arab States have suffered greatly from these.

Apart from climate change, other factors driving risk include fast growing economies in both regions and a drive towards urbanization that is often unplanned and leads to the growth of informal settlements without access to basic services.

In some countries, we see an opportunity and a challenge in the massive reconstruction effort required following years of conflict which have destroyed housing and critical infrastructure.

A message that I am sure will emanate from this meeting is that this increased private and public investment must be risk-informed and avoid the creation of new risk in order to maximize the benefits of these new investments for future generations.

You have strong foundations to build on.

Regional plans are in place. You are moving from commitment to action in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, 13 countries have so far aligned their national strategies to the Sendai Framework and more are in the pipeline.
In the Arab states, seven countries have aligned their national strategies to the Sendai Framework and more are starting to come through.

This is especially important as we near the 2020 deadline for achieving target (e) which seeks to have a substantial increase in the number of countries with national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction.

At the same time, the two regions have also started to embrace use of the Sendai Framework Monitor. To date, 18 countries present here have started to upload data on mortality, numbers of people affected, economic losses and damage to critical infrastructure.

This work is really fundamental as we seek to benchmark progress on reducing disaster losses over the next 12 years.

There is a need to strengthen implementation of the Sendai Framework in a manner which recognises the links with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Moving forward on all these important agendas in a coherent fashion is key to avoiding duplication of effort and overburdening limited resources.

Even if disaster risk reduction is primarily the responsibility of national governments, I cannot emphasise enough the importance of a gender-inclusive, all-of-society approach and whole-hearted engagement by civil society and all stakeholders.

I am looking forward to seeing a number of stakeholders from Africa and Arab states delivering their voluntary commitment statements with a sense of shared responsibility.

We need to ensure that words will not remain merely words, and that plans will not stay only plans, but translate into tangible action to reduce disaster risk and exposure and to strengthen the resilience of those most at risk.

I would like to close by thanking again the Government and people of Tunisia for their hospitality and the excellent organization of this event.

We have an exciting three days ahead of us. I am greatly looking forward to the outcomes which will be delivered - with great timing, on Saturday, 13 October, the International Day for Disaster Reduction.

Thank you for your attention.
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