Remarks President RI at The Global Consultation on Disaster Risk Reduction, Jakarta, 19 Feb 2013
REMARKS
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
AT THE OPENING OF
THE GLOBAL THEMATIC CONSULTATION ON
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND
THE
POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
JAKARTA, 19 FEBRUARY 2013
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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
May peace be upon us all.
Your Excellency Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Chairman of the Indonesia National Committee on the Post-2015 Development Agenda,
Your Excellency Mr. Jordan Ryan, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Director of UNDP Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Recovery,
Distinguished Guests,
Exellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me first welcome you all to Jakarta. Despite the rainy season and your busy schedule, I do hope you will have time to explore this dynamic city and its surroundings.
I commend the National Committee on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the United Nations for their collaboration in convening this consultation. Indonesia is honored to host this event, as part of a global consultation series on the Impact of Conflict, Violence and Disaster in the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
As Co-Chair of the UN High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, I highly value this endeavor. This is in line with the outreach principle of the Panel's work. It also gives us the opportunity to take stock from regional experiences and lessons learnt.
I also welcome the focus of this consultation: "Disaster Risks Reduction and the Post-2015 Development Agenda." This is a pertinent issue for countries like Indonesia and many others in Asia and the Pacific which are prone to natural disasters.
Above all, I believe your discussions will add value to the works of the Panel, which I have the privilege to co-chair with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom.
The Panel itself has made important progress in its work after three meetings. We have achieved a general consensus on the elements, principles, and priorities of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
I am pleased that the Panel has worked in a systematic and focused manner. In the London meeting, for example, the Panel concentrated on the individual and household poverty. In Monrovia, the Panel discussed the national building blocks of the new development agenda. And next month in Bali, for our fourth meeting, the Panel will focus on the global aspects of the agenda.
And as this forum shows, the linkage between development agenda and disasters has been well established. Disasters can destroy development gains. Managing disaster risk goes across most development sectors such as infrastructure, water, health, and education.
Therefore, the issue of disaster, I should say, the issue of disasters the forms a significant element for the outcome of the Agenda.
It is in this context that I will share my view on this issue, particularly from the perspective of Indonesia.
But before touching on the issue, let me first share with you my observations on MDGs and my vision regarding the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Exellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the past two decades, our world has gone through critical changes that affect our prosperity.
We have gone through various crises, ranging from economic crisis to natural disaster. Evidence shows that the frequency of natural disasters has increased significantly since 1970s. It was also reported that in 2010 alone, over 42 million people were displaced by natural disasters.Â
Despite continued multi-faceted challenges, we have been able to make progress, in particular in the areas of economy and development.
For example, since the early 1990s, the global GDP, I should say the global GDP growth has doubled. Many developing countries have successfully transformed their economies, including those in the African continent. In Asia and the Pacific, more countries have become the center of economic growth. New engines of growth are also emerging in the Asia-Pacific as well as the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Global poverty has also been significantly reduced. According to the 2012 UN report on MDGs, the proportion of people living on less than 1.25 dollars per day has decreased. The share of slum dwellers in urban areas declined from 39 percent in 2000 to 33 percent in 2012. This gain has improved the lives of at least 100 million people. Moreover, global gender disparity in primary education, and cases of child mortality, tuberculosis, and malaria also declined.
These show that for more than one decade, the MDGs have served as an essential tool for all nations to eradicate poverty and attain sustained prosperity. And as you all are aware, the timeframe for the implementation of those goals will end in 2015-only two years away.
In the post-2015, we will need a framework like the MDGs to help guide all nations in their efforts to end poverty. Moreover, we will need a new framework that is responsive to new challenges in our efforts to achieve social and economic progress.
Now, let me share with you my perspectives regarding the substantive shape of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and I am pleased that these perspectives are mostly shared by the Panel.
First, I hold the view that MDGs remain critical in our efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve sustained prosperity. Therefore, the MDGs should be incorporated into the new development agenda.
It is important that we enhance and make the MDGs responsive to new emerging challenges. We can then add new goals and targets to the new development agenda.
Second, the Post-2015 Development Agenda should continue to focus on eradicating extreme poverty-the main objective of the MDGs, with a strong emphasis on human development. This includes extreme poverty and hunger, education, health, and equality for girls and women.
The agenda should eventually lead to the attainment of a "zero global poverty rate" by the middle of the 21st century.
Third, it should address the cause of poverty and put in place the building blocks of sustained prosperity. This includes infrastructure, jobs creation, equal opportunities, social protection, accountability, justice, and freedom from violence.
Fourth, it should promote equitable development and sustainable growth with equity. Equity, in my view, is critical because it is about justice and fairness. And it is also about equal access to resources. At the same time, economic growth and justice are mutually reinforcing.
Fifth, it should promote a model of development that is sustainable, a model that recognizes and addresses the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity and environmental sustainability.
And sixth, it should redefine the partnership on development between governments, the private sectors, and civil society organizations. Priorities within this partnership should include global governance, source and quality of development, I should say source and growth of development finance, foreign direct investment, South-South cooperation and responsible business practices.
In addition to its substantive shape, I believe that in order to be effective, the Post-2015 Development Agenda should also take into account five aspects.
First, the agenda must have clear, concise, compelling, ambitious yet achievable goals;
Second, it must be supported by sufficient financing;
Third, it must use technological innovations in its realization;
Fourth, it must be formulated through active participation of all relevant stakeholders, including local communities;
And fifth, strong leadership at all levels is critical to the attainment of those goals and targets.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am glad that there is a common view in the Panel on the importance of incorporating the issue of natural disasters in development agenda. The Panel believes that natural disasters and other crises could push millions of people back into poverty. Therefore, the Panel underlines that we must safeguard the MDGs gains from setbacks caused by natural disasters and climate change.
With regards to disaster risk reduction or DRR, I had discussed this issue at length when I gave the keynote speech at the Fifth Asian Ministerial Meeting on DRR in Yogyakarta in October last year. I discussed this issue from the perspective of local capacity and local stakeholders.
Now, I would like to share with you a few thoughts on DRR from the perspective of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In many ways, Indonesia has mainstreamed DRR in our national development program.
First, I believe that disaster resilience should be made as one of the national building blocks for sustained prosperity. Without such resilience, the future implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda will be vulnerable to natural disasters.
On its part, learning from the experiences of the Tsunami that hit Aceh and Nias in 2004 as well as the twenty, I should say the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, Indonesia continues its efforts to achieve national and local disaster resilience.
Second, it is critical that the strategy of DRR be integrated into national development plans and policies. It should be integrated into the future national plan of action for implementation of the new development agenda.
Therefore, Indonesia has included DRR in its National Disaster Management Plan of 2010-2014 and the National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction-in line with the Hyogo Framework for Action.
Third, developing DRR institutional capacity as part of the national development plan is also critical. In this regards, Indonesia established the National Agency for Disaster Management, BNPB, in 2008. Through this national agency, we have developed an Indonesia Disaster Risk Index, IDRI. I would like to introduce the Chairman of the Chief of the National Agency for Disaster Management, Dr. Syamsul Ma'arif is also here. He has worked very very hard and he is always ready to do so, eventhough we pray to God that we could avoid disasters but more than ready to do and accomplish his mission. So, thank you Dr. Syamsul Ma'arif. Almost every week we have earthquake. Almost every month we have volcanic eruptions. Almost every two months we have Tsunami, small and medium scale. So, Indonesia is really very very honorable for natural disasters. So, we have to be ready at any time.
Fourth, the DRR strategy should be supported by sound legal foundation. In our case, the Government in collaboration with the Parliament has produced a law on Disaster Management in 2007.
Fifth, international cooperation plays significant roles in, I should say to promote DRR. In this context, the next meeting of the High Level Panel in Bali will, certainly, contribute to the development of the framework of global partnership.
And sixth, both the MDGs and the Hyogo Framework for Action will end in 2015. Therefore, it is important that discussions on DRR within the post-2015, Hyogo Framework be synchronized with the consultative process of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe that the Post-2015 Development Agenda should also consider the importance of DRR in light of man-made disasters, including violent conflicts. In many regions, inter-state as well as intra-state conflicts have caused horrifying human casualties and huge material damage. These conflicts have also worsened poverty and underdevelopment.
Therefore, I fully support the incorporation of peace and security into the agenda, as proposed by President Sirleaf and Panel members from African countries. I share the view that durable peace and political stability is an absolute condition for post-conflict countries to engage in peace building and nation-building processes.
As a final note, I would like to request your support and active participation in the fourth meeting of the Panel in Bali on 25 - 27 March 2013.
And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, by saying, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I declare the Global Thematic Consultation on Disaster Risk Reduction and the Post-2015 Development Agenda open. May the outcome of this Consultation bring benefits to our endeavor in charting the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Thank you.
Wassalamu'alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
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Asisten Deputi Naskah dan Penerjemahan,
Deputi Bidang Dukungan Kebijakan,
Kementerian Sekretariat Negara RI