A global review of disaster reduction initiatives - Welcome to the ...

5Living with Risk: A global review of disaster reduction initiativesPacific Islands. Coastal hazard management is amajor component of the project as it includeshazard mapping and the development of disasterreduction strategies for coastal areas. Inorder to realise the full potential of theresources in the region, SPREP collaborateswith other organisations to expand its role inassisting Pacific small island developing statesto integrate disaster management, sustainabledevelopment and sound environmental practicesinto national planning strategies.Institutional arrangementsEnvironmental legislation and policies requireco-ordinated organizational structures to supporttheir implementation. The creation of newministries responsible for the environment andof high level inter-ministerial and interdisciplinarypolicy advisory councils is still recentstarted after the Stockholm conference in1972. Environmental ministries exist nowadaysin some 23 African countries and 11Asian countries.Environmental functions can sometimes beperformed by parastatal agencies integrated inother ministries such as housing, planning,construction, land use, agriculture and forestry.Co-ordinated organizational arrangementsrationalise environmental protection and minimisefragmented sectoral approaches diffusedthroughout numerous government departmentsand local authorities that do not correspondto interactions inherent to ecosystems.Disaster reduction concerns have a place inspecific environmental legislative and institutionalmeans that promote coherent implementationof sustainable development policies. Forexample, almost all Caribbean countries havestrengthened their environmental administrativecapacities to integrate environmental considerationsinto physical planning.Environmental management requires co-operativesolutions, cutting across many disciplinesand sectors, involving community groups,NGOs, the private sector, governmental institutions,the scientific community, and internationalorganizations. So does disaster manage-Involvement of the El Salvador Ministry of the Environment in risk and disaster mattersThe impact of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and the earthquakes in El Salvador in 2001, led to an increased awarenessat the Ministry of the Environment in El Salvador about the relationship between development, the environmentand disasters. Recent favourable experience collaborating with local community associations and NGOsin the Lower Lempa Valley Risk Reduction Project provided organizational precedents for more direct involvementby the ministry in risk and disaster matters. Following the 2001 earthquakes, the Minister of the Environmentconvened a committee of national and international experts to consider the creation of a new technicalagency to deal with risk management issues. An executive paper created the National Service for TerritorialStudies (SNET), in the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources in October 2001. SNET is anautonomous government agency with annual budget of about US$ 2 million.SNET has four divisions, three of which relate to monitoring the country’s geology, hydrology and meteorology.This is the first time that these disciplines have been housed in the same institution in El Salvador. The fourthdivision deals with integrated risk management issues and develops vulnerability and risk scenarios.Consideration also is being given to the formulation of a national risk reduction plan that would prioritize, guideand orient future risk management activities in the country and establish a basis for coordinating the many professionalinterests and different actors in the field.SNET breaks with the tradition of adding risk reduction issues onto already established emergency disasterresponse or civil defence plans. By expanding on the prior experience of The National Institute for Territorial Studiesin Nicaragua SNET may be a first step towards establishing a comprehensive risk management system in thecountry. It may well serve as a model for other countries, as Guatemala has recently requested a feasibility studyto be conducted for a similar approach. Another project financed by the IADB in the Dominican Republic iscurrently evaluating a far greater role for the Ministry of the Environment, which already has legal authority toact in the area of land use and disaster reduction.214