15 June 2012: In the third installment of the UN News Centre’s “Seven Issues, Seven Experts” interview series, Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), discusses what countries, communities and individuals can do to prevent disasters.

Wahlström calls on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) to recognize disaster risk as a strong strategic issue, since achieving sustainable development objectives depends on mitigating the risks and costs of disasters.

On disaster prediction and planning, Wahlström underscores that the impact of disasters is felt at both the national and the global levels, due to interconnected trade relationships. She explains that countries prone to disasters require programmes to educate citizens about risks, early warning and alert systems, and a strengthened capacity to respond to disasters when they happen, including trained personnel and means of transport and communication. She says governments should prepare to diminish the impact of the risk itself through better land use planning, improved infrastructure quality and risk assessments.

Wahlström attributes the increasing frequency of disasters globally to climate variability, rapid urbanization and people increasingly living in highly vulnerable areas due to development pressures. She urges countries to make cities more resilient through urban planning and redesign, and to legislate for mechanisms that build preparedness and channel resources into systems at the local level. She stresses that disaster risk prevention and response starts with individual citizens, and urges people to take leadership on these issues in their own communities.

“Seven Issues, Seven Experts” addresses each of the key areas identified by the UN ahead of Rio+20 as needing urgent attention: creation of jobs, access to energy, building sustainable cities, ensuring food security and sustainable agriculture, access to water, ocean management and disaster readiness. [UN News Centre Interview]