Oceania

The 4th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 19 to 23 May at the International Conference Centre of Geneva (CICG). Heads of State, government ministers, parliamentarians, CEOs, scientists and civil society representatives will meet to discuss a new global framework to reduce disaster risk.

It is expected that around 3,000 people will attend this fourth session of the Global Platform which will be the last to take place before the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan in 2015. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNISDR, estimates that since the year 2000, earthquakes, floods, storms, tsunamis, heat waves and other disaster events have killed 1.1 million people, disrupted the lives of 2.7 billion and caused over $1.3 trillion in economic losses.

UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström, who is also the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, said: "This will be the last Global...

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), launched in to service a Regional Cooperative Mechanism on Drought Monitoring and Early Warning in Nanjing, China.

The Mechanism provides satellite products for general drought monitoring and higher resolution products for identified high drought risk areas, and assists its members in developing localized products and services for relevant decision making. Space capable countries in the region committed to provide satellite information based technical services through the Mechanism, to drought prone ESCAP member countries to help them achieve effective monitoring and early warning of drought events so that the Governments and relevant stakeholders will have more lead time to take measures in preventing drought hazards become major disasters.

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