His Excellency Ambassador Izben C. Williams, Permanent Representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis and Chair of the Committee on Hemispheric Security Chair of the Committee on Hemispheric Security,
Distinguished Permanent Representatives,
His Excellency Ambassador Gabriel Marcelo Fuks, Chair Comisión Cascos Blancos,
Ms. Gordana Jerger - Deputy Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, World Food Program (WFP),
Mr. Carlo Scaramella - Representative of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in El Salvador, and Coordinator of the UN-WFP Regional Centre for Humanitarian Response for Central America,
Ambassador Alexandre Addor Neto, Under Secretary for Multidimensional Security,
Mr. Scott Vaughn, Director of the Department of Sustainable Development,
Distinguished Alternate Representatives,

Ladies and Gentlemen,


I thank Ambassador Williams for extending this kind invitation to the Secretariat to be part of today’s meeting. Let me say that the issue of natural disasters has become a major concern for our Organization, especially in the light of the recent events throughout our Hemisphere, in Peru, Bolivia, Dominica, Jamaica, Belize, Nicaragua, among others. This why today’s meeting of the Committee on Hemispheric Security is important, and a very timely one.

According to the Indicators of Disaster Risk and Risk Management, a study updated by the Inter-American Development Bank in 2007, “Hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides and floods have caused US$ 3.2 billion in physical losses annually in Latin America and the Caribbean during the past thirty years. On a yearly basis, disasters in the region claim more than 5,000 lives and affect 4 million people. Over this period, these losses have been trending upward as a result of development processes that lead to the environmental destruction of vulnerable sites and rapid growth in hazard-prone areas. Disasters (including the small-scale disasters that go unnoticed by the outside world) damage rural and urban livelihoods, as well as social and productive capital, having a proportionately greater impact on small farmers and micro-entrepreneurs. Increased poverty has often resulted. In many cases, disasters have a longer term impact on the development prospects of countries…”

The threats that the challenge of natural disaster poses to the security of our region, in particular the small developing states, cause the OAS to give special attention to cooperation with other agencies of the Inter-American System in order to find appropriate and practical solutions. During the last session of the General Assembly this important issue was considered and today we will have the opportunity to review some aspects of the mandates entrusted in resolution AG/RES. 2314 (XXXVII-O/07) “Natural Disaster Reduction, Risk Management, and Assistance in Natural and other Disaster Situations”.

This resolution stresses the linkage between natural disasters and sustainable development, and raises the concern of member states regarding the devastation within numerous member states caused by natural disasters. It also focuses on reducing vulnerability, managing risk, and preventing disasters, in order to complement other activities regarding emergency response, relief and reconstruction.

AG/RES. 2314 also introduces the concern of member states caused by the conclusions and recommendations of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and requests the member states to recognize the importance of the adverse effects of climate change, recognizing that they represent additional risks for all the countries in the Hemisphere, and specially for developing countries. Both resolutions further note the “negative impact on their [the member states] development objectives and on their poverty eradication efforts, exacerbated by the diversion of financial resources to disaster response and away from sustainable development.”

The OAS recognizes the need for mutual assistance and technical cooperation. In this regard the recent agreement signed by the SG/OAS and the UN-WFP (World Food Programme), as well as the on-going cooperation with the Argentine White Helmets Initiative become increasingly relevant.

Finally, the issue of Natural Disasters is on the one hand an issue of sustainable development, where risk-management needs to be mainstreamed across all sectors –and including in discussions of Foreign Affairs Ministries, Planning and Finance Ministries, and Productive Sectors, as well as Health and Education, Public Works, Private Enterprises and the Arm Forces. On the other hand, once a Disaster strikes the matter becomes one of public security, calling for the intervention of Ministries of Interior and Defense, Law Enforcement, and other Public and Social Branches of the Governments.

I would like to mention that the efforts of the Committee on Hemispheric Security regarding the issue of natural disasters are line with activities within the General Secretariat on response and risk management. Let me take this opportunity to recall that on September 21, 2007 we had the first meeting the Inter-American Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction (IACNDR) to explore collaboration on disaster risk management.

The OAS accompanied with PADF and PAHO continues to work in providing a response to the emergency and in supporting the member States affected by natural disasters. However, I think we can improve the system to make it more capable of dealing with long-term impact of disasters. The idea of the disaster fund has been raised on many occasion, we need to take a closer look at it and create a kind of safety net, in particular for the weakest economies of the region to address the long-term social and economic reconstruction efforts. I believe this meeting can contribute in a meaningful way to strengthening the existing mechanisms of cooperation and assistance, but also to start the debate on new mechanisms to be established.

I thank you for this opportunity and I wish you a productive meeting.