United Nations Assistant Secretary General Margareta Wahstrom representing UN Sec Gen Ban Ki Moon handed the award to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda as Senior Global Champion of DRR during the opening ceremonies of the Asian Ministerial Conference on DRR on Tuesday.
Salceda in an emailed acceptance speech said the people of Albay were honored by the award from the United Nations as a recognition of their zero casualty performance for the past 16 years.
He said," The people of Albay thanked the UN ISDR for this award, and we accept the award as a challenge to sustain our disaster risk reduction program in pursuit of Millennium Development Goal."
He claims that given the rising climate risks, no development is possible without adaptation, however it is development that gives meaning to adaptation.
"Adaptation is the duty of the state simply because it is the poor that bears the brunt of climate impacts and natural disasters- those who are most vulnerable are also the least capable of protection, those who have more in risks also have less in resources," Salceda noted.
Giving emphasis to CCA he said "this duty can not be outsourced, it can not be offshored, it can not be delegated. But it must do so by capacitating local communities and reinforcing local governance - by making cities and provinces resilient."
Similarly, in May this year, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) has named Salceda a 'Senior Champion' of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, in Bonn, Germany.
Albay, a calamity prone province that faces the Pacific Ocean where most typhoons of the year originate, joined the conference dubbed as Asia First World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change'Resilient Cities 2010' as a global model.
The UNISDR aims to build disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as a component of sustainable development.
Salceda, pioneered the'zero casualty' policy through preemptive evacuation during disasters, and hosted the National Conference on Climate Change Adaptation in two successive settings; first at the Albay Astrodome in Legazpi City Albay in 2007, and the second at the Diamond Hotel in Manila in 2009. Both were well acclaimed and attended by international crisis managers, scientists, businessmen and students.
Salceda was recognized as an outstanding campaigner and implementor of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster risk Reduction (DRR) in a global gathering of that size since it puts the Philippines in the forefront of noble objectives.
"I joined the ISDR campaign for resilient cities as global role model for Asia for two reasons: first, Albay wants to learn from the best practices in the rest of the world; second, we want to push ourselves higher on standard to drive ourselves harder on this effort and to push the envelope on development through DRR and CCA," Salceda said.
He said adaptation is an investment, not a cost: "It reduces risks, thus increases business returns. Albay has seen a surge in investments even after typhoons Reming and Milenyo, Mayon eruption and a spate of recent disasters. CCA and DRR allow development to proceed amid disasters", since they don't disrupt people's lives since the provincial government takes charge of the disaster. (LGU Albay/PIA/mal)