Committee: United Nations Development Programme
Topic: Disaster Risk Reduction
Country: France
Delegate: Aneesa Berner
France acknowledges the fact that natural disasters are inevitable and can be catastrophic. The delegation of French is deeply concerned with the statistics surrounding natural disasters. According to WHO, around 90,000 people die each year from natural disasters and 160 million people are affected. France hopes to work to reduce the unnecessary damage that is done in countries simply because they did not have stable infrastructure, proper equipment to detect the magnitude of the natural disaster, or the time and methods to prepare citizens. In France, historically, the most common natural disaster occurs in the form of mass flooding. This flooding often affects highly populated cities in France, such as Paris. France has governmental programs dedicated to Disaster Risk Reduction that work seamlessly between national and local public authorities.
The French Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction as well as NGOs throughout France work together to develop new policies involving the best ways to approach natural disasters. The French Platform For Disaster Risk Reduction has outlined its key focus areas, which include “flood risk management, education, vigilance, resilience, and evaluation of the effectiveness of local risk prevention planning”. The French government has numerous research institutes to figure out how to better prepare and predict, and one of those being the National Observatory of Natural Risks (ONRN) The French government also finds it important to work with other countries to figure out how to better their own systems and aid other countries in times of need. For example Japan and France work together to compile data and better the other countries disaster preparation systems. France hopes to modernize the methods through which people learn and prepare for upcoming natural disasters. Previously during high flood warnings the French government used mobile phones to distribute information. This method ended up aiding in a greater overall preparation for the floods of those in 2500 municipalities. The French government, furthermore, believes that disaster risk reduction should not only be a national topic but also a local topic. After a cyclone hit France in 2010, it only took 2 years for 7,700 municipalities in areas with a greater risk of natural disasters to develop unique community based plans for disaster risk reduction.
In March of 2015, France pledged a full time commitment in implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction which was also adopted by the UN. The French delegation stresses the importance of individualized local and national level plans for disaster prevention and the modernization of communication system for the faster and more effective means of sharing information in relation to natural hazards. The French delegation is open to funding to aid in bettering disaster prevention in other countries and working together with governments of other countries to collaborate on research to help develop programs and prevent catastrophes.
- Aneesa Berner