Disaster risks and Climate Change: An evident interconnection to be promoted

On November 5th, the members of the UNDRR Sendai Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM) convened digitally for an interactive brainstorming session focused on how to promote resilience building and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in international formal and informal as well as intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder climate change spaces.

The interconnection between disaster risks and climate change adaptation is evident, and the need for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) to be fully integrated into climate change discussions is pressing.

Facilitated by the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) who sits in the SEM Advisory Group coordinating the farmers’ constituency, the event aimed at building sharing key messages and understanding of the priority issues SEM should address in the climate space.

Furthermore, the meeting offered an excellent venue to exchange knowledge and experience on the interlinkage between DRR and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) to advance how the two sectors can be bridged.

Attendees joining the session included several representatives of WFO Member Organisations: Liam MacHale, Director of European Affairs, Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA); Kouassi Sébastino Da Costa on behalf of Association Nationale des Semenciers de Côte d’Ivoire (ANASEMCI); Tamisha Lee, President, Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers (JNRWP) and member of WFO Women Committee; Meena Pokhrel, Deputy General Manager, Nepal Agriculture Co-operative Central Federation Limited (NACCFL); Gunsham Seeborun, President, F.A.L.C.O.N Association – Mauritius and member of WFO Working Group on Climate Change; Ceris Jones, Climate Change Adviser at UK NFU and Facilitator of the WFO Working Group on Climate Change.

SEM members will use the outcomes of this session in their policy influencing work.