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APMCDRR Official Statement Finalization Meeting

  Sep 06, 2022

The APMCDRR Official Statement Finalization Meeting was organized by DPNet Nepal in 4th September, 2022 via zoom. The main objective of the meeting was to finalize Official Statement to present in APMCDRR. The program was attended by Chief of Disaster and Conflict Management Division of Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr. Pradip Koirala, Joint Secretary of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority Ms. Anita Niroula, representatives from various organizations and expert

Dr. Raju Thapa, Vice-Chairperson of DPNet
The Official Statement submission deadline is 5th September. We had shared the draft official statement via mail to the more than 2500 individuals and organizations to collect feedback. After getting feedback from the stakeholders relevant and appropriate comments were incorporated. Special thanks to Mr. Dinanath Bhandari and Mr. Tulsi Prasad Dahal.

Mr. Pradip Kumar Koirala, Chief of Disaster and Conflict Management Division, MoHA
Shared draft has accommodated every aspect of disaster management in Nepal. This time we have a word limit of 2000 with some guiding questions to prepare a draft. Still we can accommodate various issues that we want to share among the international community. The statement should have the basis essence of Nepal’s DRRM acts, plans, policies and midterm review of SFDRR. We should be aware about focusing on international partnership and relations further.

Mr. Tulsi Dahal shared an official statement
The official statement from the Government of Nepal, Ministry of Home Affairs at the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 will be delivered on APMCDRR 2022. The statement includes the disaster status, 2015 Gorkha earthquake, COVID -19 and other climate induced risks. Since Nepal is susceptible to various hazards such as heavy rain, floods and landslides affecting lives and properties. The statement has the learnings and experiences of 2015 Gorkha earthquake, legal frameworks regarding DRRM and capacity of Nepal in DRRM. The work done by Nepal in reconstruction and resilience, international collaboration and NPDRR platforms is explained in the paper. The paper includes about strengthening the understanding of risk, hazard observations, vulnerability assessments and risk mapping as well.

Dr. Raju Thapa, Vice Chairperson of DPNet
It’s better to mention the contribution of NPDRR nine thematic groups' DRR effort and approaches in disaster management to make a resilient society. As per the provision of National Policy on DRR, 2018, Nepal adopts inclusive DRR policy. Special attention should be given to accommodate the vulnerable community status and their effort on DRR.

Mr. Dinanath Bhandari, Technical Advisor of DPNet
The civil society’s perception is included in the position paper. Some of the contents have been removed and important achievements have been added in the statement.

Dr. Dharam Uprety from Practical Action
We should include hydro-metro related issues linking it with climate change. It would be better if we said other financial resources instead of climate funds. It would be also good if we could quantify the loss and damage caused by disaster over the last 20 years and more severe over the last 10 years.  As per Bipad portal, 40 billion USD loss is mentioned, so we could put that reference. NDRRMA has initiated impact based EWS in 4 districts and plans gradually in other districts so we should include this. Nepal's Climate change policy 2019, and NAP 2021 are also rolling out at different levels and can be instrumental in reducing climate induced disaster.

Mr. Dinesh Gurung, Technical Advisor of DPNet
The loss and damage is already happening now despite risk reduction efforts. So there is the need for more resources that can be linked. It would be better if we add about the school based DRR as well.

Ms. Anita Niraula, Joint Secretary of NDRRMA
We should be very clear about how the international agencies will further help technically and financially in Nepal in upcoming days with this Official Statement. The content should reflect the disasters that occurred during the past year such as flood, landslides and so on with reference. It’s better to include the work done by NDRRMA in GEDSI, SRSP, anticipatory actions, DRR financing and DRRM fund. NDRRMA has done lot of remarkable works such as accessibility to disability should be showed case. The further action plans such as multi hazard early warning system of NDRRMA in should be added and made the statement more concrete.

Mr. Surya Bahadur Thapa, Chairperson of DPNet
The important efforts and achievements should not be missed in the official statement and we should learn to grab the opportunity in APMCDRR. Everyone is requested to give feedback written till 5 PM. The statement will be finalized today and submitted tomorrow. He then gave a vote of thanks to everyone and closed the meeting.