His Excellency, Mr. Csaba Korösi, President of the General Assembly,
Her Excellency, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Distinguished representatives,

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the G77 and China.

This High Level Meeting on the Midterm Review of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction constitutes an opportunity to identify and implement changes, innovations and course corrections in policy, practice, investment and cooperation to prevent, mitigate and reduce existing and emerging risks by 2030.

It is during the occurrence of disasters that the realities and structural deficiencies of the economies of developing countries become most evident.

The correct implementation of the Sendai Framework should not be seen as an isolated process, but as a fundamental part of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Therefore, the development approach must prevail.

It should be understood that a true preventive approach will only be employed when efforts are directed to address the root problems that limit the capacity of developing countries to respond to disasters and build resilience.

Despite our best efforts, the Group is concerned that the direct and indirect economic and social impacts of disasters have increased, yet investments in disaster risk reduction and efforts to de-risk investments are inadequate. It is clear from the recommendations that developing countries require an enabling global environment that fosters greater investment in infrastructure and resilience building, without increasing debt burdens that limit the scope of access to financing. Addressing the financing gap is imperative.

Developing countries need adequate, sustainable and timely provision of support, including through finance, technology transfer and capacity-building from developed countries and partners tailored to their needs and priorities, as it is reflected in the principles of the Sendai Framework. The Group highlights the importance of switching from managing disaster and disaster risk to a more preventive approach at all levels.

The scarcity of quality and accessible data continues to severely inhibit efforts towards the implementation of Sendai Framework and remains a challenge to effective disaster risk reduction. Data and the capacity to interpret such data to develop risk-informed decision-making and policy development, especially in developing countries is crucial to ensuring the effective mainstreaming of DRR across various sectors. To this end, the group considers that international cooperation mechanisms should be strengthened, including South-South cooperation, and their interrelation with United Nations agencies and funds, within their respective mandates, in order to substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to support national Governments.

Mr. Chair,

We reaffirm the need for the implementation of the Sendai Framework in the context of poverty eradication efforts.

More specific measures must be taken to address the underlying factors that increase the risk of disasters such as inequality, climate change and climate variability, rapid and unplanned urbanization, inadequate land management, and aggravating factors such as demographic changes, poor institutional arrangements, policies formulated without risk awareness, lack of regulation and incentives for private investments in disaster risk reduction, complex supply chains, limitations in technology availability, unsustainable use of natural resources, weakened ecosystems, pandemics and epidemics.

The countries of the Global South have been designing and implementing national policies with the support of UNDRR and other agencies. However, we have not witnessed a correspondence in terms of providing the necessary means of implementation to respond to our efforts.

Recent events have demonstrated the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures, particularly on developing countries, during recovering efforts from disasters. On behalf of the G77 and China, we thank the Secretary General for his call to avoid the hampering of any support due to the imposition of those measures in the specific case of the terrible earthquake that devastated Syria. Therefore, once more we urge all States to refrain from promulgating and applying such measures.

Finally, I would like to thank the co-facilitators of the process of negotiation for their tireless effort.

I thank you.