The inaugural programme of the two-day workshop on ‘Strengthening Community Resilience to Climate Change & Disaster Risk’ was held at Hotel Vivor, Kohima on 27th April 2022. The workshop is organised by the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Home Department, Government of Nagaland in collaboration with InsuResilience Solutions (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management), Swiss Re and Tata AIG.
Advisor, NSDMA, Kazheto Kinimi addressing the workshop stated that the Government through its various policies and efforts have been working towards mainstreaming the concepts of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation into policy making, planning and implementation. He said that the process of measuring risk and resilience is a complex task, it requires detailed scientific analysis of risk and vulnerability of different areas. However, he said that such studies will help in developing realistic strategies for disaster prevention and mitigation in the State.
The Advisor expressed hope that the workshop will help in understanding the issues better, help in coordination between various departments, and strengthen community resilience to climate and disaster risks.
Joint Chief Executive Officer, NSDMA, Home Department, Johnny Ruangmei addressing the workshop stated that disaster is no longer a matter of if but a matter of when. He called on all the government departments to make a frank assessment on their disaster management plan. All the line departments need to come together and think about what are the risk that they can reduce. He stated that the objective of the workshop is to bring out a plan which the Administrative Heads, Chief Secretary, and the Government will approve which will be sent as a policy document. It will also bring out a DRR in ecotourism which will aim to be the first State in India to have a disaster policy on ecotourism. The workshop also aims to help understand the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction, develop understanding on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, and work towards achieving SDG for DRR, mainstream DRR component into a development programme of each line departments, NGOs in responding to DRR. He also stressed on each department to allocate a budget for disaster risk reduction for itself, which he stated is provided under the 14th Finance Commission provision.
Eugen Doce from InsuResilience Solutions (ISF) delivering the keynote address said that in the IPCC Report presented recently, the report has come so close to the common people so that they see and feel the reality. He said that it should also be included in textbooks in elementary schools, and that it will also help the stakeholders to address the issues of climate change. He stated that three years ago, the ISF was launched since there was gap in climate risks insurance. He stated that insurance is an area that will help in fortifying the local authority, governments in the next two decades. Eugen shared that among the first presentations/submissions the ISF received was from Nagaland for funding, and in 2019 after meeting with Johnny Ruangmei in Dhaka, the ISF decided to fund the project which was submitted.
ISF’s mission is to support innovative solutions to mitigate negative impacts of climate change. It fosters the development of needs-based and financially sustainable climate risk insurance products in developing and emerging countries, increasing the resilience of poor and vulnerable households against extreme weather events and natural catastrophes. It is an important contribution of the German Government funded by KfW Development Bank to achieve the target of the international initiative on climate risk insurance ‘InsuResilience.’
Welcome address was delivered by Home Commissioner, Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha IAS. The technical session on the first day of workshop were on the topics - Insurance mechanism against extreme weather events, Challenges in the context of climate change and DRR in Nagaland, and policy praxis of disaster management.
(Nouneseno, IA)
