Spider Thematic Partnership for the Pacific Region - During the upcoming Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management 2011 meeting which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand from 1 - 5 August 2011 UN-SPIDER will be organising a side meeting bringing together all those interested in coordinating further the access and use of space-based information and technologies to support disaster risk management in the Pacific region. With the support of the Government of Austria UN-SPIDER will be able to extend travel support to selected experts from the Pacific region nominated by their respective national institutions. Please forward these nominations to David Stevens (e-mail: david.stevens [at] unoosa.org) ASAP. We invite all those interested in contributing to helping the Pacific countries to access and use space-based information to consider joining us for this event. Deadline for registration for the meeting is 11th July 2011.
For further info on the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management 2011 meeting: http://www.pacificdisaster.net:8080/Plone/pacific-platform-2011
For further info on the side meeting: Spider Thematic Partnership for the Pacific Region: e-mail david.stevens [at] unoosa.org
The Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management 2011 is an opportunity for Pacific island countries and territories to share experiences and knowledge in building the resilience of their island communities to disasters.
The Platform will bring together disaster managers from 23 Pacific island countries and territories, Chief Executive Officers of Ministries of Finance, Planning, Disaster Management as well as members of the Pacific Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Partnership Network. The Platform covers a wide spectrum of stakeholders including government, national, regional and international development partner organisations, donors, civil society and the private sector.
The functions of the Platform as per its establishment in 2008 are to:
1. Strengthen coherence and coordination of regional disaster risk management support through joint initiatives and joint work programming, especially in relation to National Action Plans.
2. Exchange information and lessons learned in key thematic and technical areas that have formed for DRM such as Climate Change Adaptation, education, safer hospitals and early warning.
3. Influence and establish policy through advocacy and informed dialogue by recognising and realising the essential links between science and technical levels to the political and policy level. This will contribute to the setting of regional DRM priorities and policy and, establishing linkages with National Platforms, various regional meetings, inter-governmental processes, and the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.
4. Improve reporting, monitoring and evaluation of progress in DRM at regional and national levels. This will ensure that implementation of the Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Framework for Action 2005 – 2015 and the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005 - 2015 analyzed against a minimum set of indicators and benchmarks to accurately gauge progress against the objectives set under the regional and global frameworks, respectively.
