Draft Speech Bymr Marcus Cornaro

Draft Speech byMr Marcus Cornaro

DEVCO Deputy Director-General

Final Event of the Programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters in the ENPI East Region (PPRD East)

Brussels, 13June 2014

SPEAKING POINTS

On behalf of the European Commission (DEVCO and ECHO) welcome the participants, in particular the Ministers of Emergencies Situations, and thank them for joining today's event.

This final conference marks the landing point of four years of cooperation between the EU and its Eastern Neighbours in the field of prevention, preparedness and response to natural and man-made disasters in the framework of the EU-funded PPRD Programme. The progress made in establishing stronger cooperation mechanisms in the civil protection sector are an undeniable achievement for both parties and will contribute to increasing security in the region. This is all the more important if we consider the recent trends at global level.

We are all aware that in the last decades the world has been facing an increase in natural and man-made disasters. Such disasters are generally more violent than in the past and it appears that climate change, industrialization,changes to land use and terrorism are aggravating this tendency. Moreover, there is also a growing trend in the rise of vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters, which are becoming increasing costly from a human and from an economic point of view, often stunting the economic growth of a country.

Natural disasters take every year thousands of lives and cause enormous suffering. Their most immediate economic impact – damage costs – has quadrupled over the last three decades, from an average of $50 billion/year during the 80s to nearly $200 billion/year in constant prices over the last decade. And with climate change - and more wealth in countries in the path of disasters - this trend is bound to continue. In addition, beyond damage costs there are fiscal consequences such as reduced revenues, increased expenditure, and increased public debt.

Investments in disaster-preparedness and disaster risk reduction can be beneficial for the economy and are generally very cost-effective. Experience shows that for every dollar spent in disaster risk reduction there are four to seven dollars saved in damage costs.

The Eastern Partnershipregion shows a highly complex disaster profile. Despite their large geographical coverage,EaP countries can be characterized by a considerably similar exposure to natural and man-made disaster risks, ranging from earthquakes, floods, landslides, to risks of nuclear, chemical and industrial origin.

As a result of the increase in the number and violence of disasters, Eastern Partnership governments have engaged in designing strategies, develop and acquire capacities to respond to such disasters and I would like to congratulate them for this.

However, although the responsibility to respond and prepare for disasters lies with national authorities it is now apparent that there is a shared responsibility for the international community to cooperate and intervene when a major disaster overwhelms the national capacities of a state. Cross-border, regional and international cooperation is a practical necessity and political imperative. That is one of the reasons why the Programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to natural and man-made disasters (PPRD East) has been identified as one of the EaP flagship Initiatives.

Based on the results of the first phase of this Programme, we legitimately have high expectations for its continuation in the coming years. The Civil Protection Mechanism in Europe has been highly successful and has greatly improved Civil Protection cooperation amongst participating states. Continued cooperation in the framework of the PPRD flagship initiative will be extremely useful to keep reinforcing the effectiveness of Civil Protection in the Eastern Partnership countries.

We consider the PPRD Programme to be an extremely useful instrument which will help both the EU and its partner countries establishing closer cooperation, simultaneously guaranteeing social and political stability. We do believe that your countries will keep supporting the Programme in its second phase and weinvite you to make good use of the opportunities that it offers.