Working together with our region to prepare for future disasters

This week, Australia welcomes more than 3,000 delegates from over 40 Asia-Pacific countries to Brisbane for the 2022 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR).

Hosted in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the conference will bring together ministerial representatives and delegates from government, civil society, academia, the private sector and local communities.

Australia’s hosting of this critical forum demonstrates our commitment to building climate and disaster resilience at home and with our region to reduce the impact of future disasters.

This is an opportunity to showcase Australia’s expertise and experience – including that of First Nations Australians – and share what we’ve learned from our recent and historical disasters, including bushfires and floods.

The Australian Government is taking action to reduce our disaster risks through:

• establishing the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to provide start to finish oversight on response, recovery and resilience,
• establishing the Disaster Ready Fund, which will make up to $200 million available per year for disaster mitigation and resilience initiatives,
• reviewing our Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, with an intention to have some improvements in place ahead of this summer, and
• importantly, we are doing our part to act on the root cause of many of the issues faced in this space – climate change – with Australia recently legislating to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.

The conference comes at a critical time for the Asia-Pacific, which is the most disaster prone region in the world.

The Australian Government is extending support in the Pacific region and in Timor-Leste with an additional $50 million to DisasterREADY, an existing regional disaster risk reduction program delivered through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership by trusted non-government organisations.

We are also strengthening initiatives under the Mekong-Australia Partnership with $8 million to expand assistance to support nature-based solutions in Southeast Asia with trusted partner WWF-Australia, and to partner with Oxfam Australia to support community climate and disaster resilience.

We will also support Pacific island countries to undertake their national midterm reviews ahead of the Sendai midterm review next year.

This will be the first regional disaster risk reduction conference to include the full participation of Pacific Island countries.

This week Australia committed to a biennial meeting of Pacific Ministers for Disaster Risk Reduction, to ensure the safety, security and resilience of the Pacific.

Australia is working with the Pacific family to address the existential threat of climate change, which has led to disasters of increasing frequency and severity.

The conference will bring delegates together over four days (19 – 22 September) to consider ways we can work together to reduce risks, save lives, minimise economic loss, and ensure no one is left behind.

For more information on the conference, visit the website at apmcdrr.undrr.org.