30 November 2010: Parliamentarians at the meeting on “Disaster Risk Reduction: An Instrument for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” convened by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) in Manila, the Philippines, from 25-27 November 2010, called on governments in the region to allocate at least 1% of their national budgets to projects designed to strengthen disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Parliamentarians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Philippines, and Thailand issued the Manila Call for Action. In the Call for Action, parliamentarians pledged to: deepen understanding of the linkages of DRR with development issues such as climate change, poverty, gender, education, public health, maternal and child care, environment, infrastructure, among other issues, and translate it to practical actions; demonstrate responsible and effective political leadership, governance, and public service; and be agents of change and transcend political boundaries in advancing DRR and fostering synergies with climate change adaptation for achieving the MDGs.

In the Manila Call for Action, parliamentarians call on national governments to: adopt a national strategy and put in place the requisite institutional frameworks and arrangements that mainstream disaster risk reduction into development policy, programs and practices; allocate resources from costly disaster relief and recovery activities to cost-effective DRR measures for sustainable development; allocate at least 1% of the national budget and development funding at the national and local levels for reducing disaster risk; enhance political commitment to DRR and translate this into development investments and resource sharing at the regional level; and introduce DRR in the basic education systems, local government programs, and national and local youth programs. [UN Press Release] [UN/ISDR Press Release] [Manila Call for Action]