Coherence in Practice

Asia/ Pacific

In the Asia-Pacific region, GIDRM II has supported the development of various knowledge products as well as policy guidance to support countries in the region in their efforts to achieve coherence.

Introduction

In the Asia-Pacific region, GIDRM has supported the development of various knowledge products as well as policy guidance to support countries in their efforts to achieve coherence. Through a participatory multi-stakeholder approach, the member countries of the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management (RCC) developed a policy brief as well as key messages on coherence that have been presented at the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in May 2019.

In direct response to the impacts of COVID-19, GIDRM is also supporting the severely impacted tourism sector by providing knowledge products and capacity building activities through webinars and the Crisis Resource Center established by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The goal is to prepare the tourism sector for recovery that is taking into account various risks and leads to long-term resilience in the future.

In addition, GIDRM has established the Coherence Practice Group (CPG) as a mechanism at regional level that collects good practices and country experiences, supports and capacitates countries on a demand-driven basis, connects like-minded partners, donors, and experts and systematically feeds the lessons learned and good practices back into the regional and international discourse. Through the CPG, GIDRM has been supporting the following coherence practices:

The Philippines

In the Philippines, GIDRM is supporting the government to standardise the numerous risk assessment approaches and planning guidelines of various ministries that have to be used by the local government units. The harmonization of the different guidelines and approaches is facilitated through an inter-ministerial process that ensures that the new climate and disaster risk assessment toolkit covers the requirements of all ministries. Based on clearly prioritised measures, improved planning will be translated into local project proposals that give equal consideration to climate and disaster risks (e.g. in public building codes) and can be financed through budgets that do not focus solely on one of the topics.

Thailand

In Thailand, GIDRM is supporting the government in promoting coherent information and data governance. The post-2015 agendas require countries to collect large numbers of information and data related to risks and losses, mostly for monitoring purposes. However, the ultimate goal of collecting risk and loss data should be risk-informed development. In order to reach that goal, systems for information and data governance are required that go beyond data sharing mechanisms and ensure that decision-makers can use the collected data to inform their planning processes when it comes to climate and disaster risks.

The Maldives

In the Maldives, GIDRM is supporting the government in facilitating a coherent approach to climate and disaster resilience in the tourism sector by enhancing existing capacity building programs for the tourism sector as well as by integrating climate and disaster risk considerations in the regulatory framework and development planning processes.

Partners

In Asia, GIDRM works, among others, with the following international and regional partners: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) as the Secretariat of the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management (RCC), UNDRR, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

Coverphoto: ©GIZ