Workshop on Regional Priorities for Knowledge Management and Strategy for Action: South Asia

Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction

New Delhi, 26^th June 2013

What:  The workshop on Regional Priorities for Knowledge Management and Strategy for Action: South Asia is being organized by UNESCO, jointly with Development Alternatives.  It is a part of the South Asia Regional Consultation on Climate Change Adaptation which opened two days ago, i.e. 24 June and which brings experts, representatives of national governments and civil society organizations and academia from eight South Asian countries (India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sir Lanka).

The Workshop proposes to address the following objectives:

1.      To bring together various stakeholders from research, grassroots and policy working on natural disasters and climate change communities

2.      To understand the role of scientific inquiry and tools in facilitating policy formulation for managing the risks of natural disasters and climate change especially for vulnerable communities

3.      To explore possible integration with existing network/s for interaction and information sharing for better collaboration between various stakeholders working on issues related to natural disasters and climate change.

Who:

Ø  Prof. Santosh Kumar, Director, SAARC Disaster Management Centre

Ø  Mr. Ali T. Sheikh, CEO and National Programme Director, LEAD Pakistan

Ø  Dr Sanjay Kumar Mishra,  Adviser/Scientist – G, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

Ø  Dr. Lam Dorji, Executive Director, Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN), Bhutan

Ø  Mr Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka

Ø  Ms Margarita Tileva, Chief Emergency, UNICEF, India

Where:  Nilgiri Hall, Hotel Oberoi, Dr. Zakir Hussain Marg, New Delhi

When:  9.30 a.m., 26^th June 2013

Note to Editors:

Collective action for building resilience for disaster and climate change is critical. Scientific inquiry if not connected to practice and policy making process has limited reach and value. Networks facilitate better knowledge collaboration for disaster management and climate change among various stakeholders. They facilitate, identify and bridge gaps in disaster and climate change related knowledge of stakeholders viz. researchers, practitioners and policy makers and feed into processes at various levels. To bridge the gap, a high level workshop is planned for a day to bring together various actors from research, practice and policy community in Asia working on climate change issues and its connect to natural disaster. The workshop is deliberated to discuss on issues, concerns and way forward collaboratively for effective action on building the resilience against climate change.

The deliberations and dialogue will facilitate strengthening of existing networks for sharing knowledge, information and practices leading to better off-take of scientific research and emergence/facilitation of policy dialogue process and stronger interactions in future at a regional level. Identification of disaster risk reduction tools will strengthen the capacities to adapt to climate variabilities. The adaptive capacities in these situations can be increased by the incorporation of efficient disaster preparedness plans and emergency management systems. This can be achieved with accurate scientific data, planning for adaptation and advocacy among stakeholders for disaster risk reduction.

For interviews of key spokespersons and further information, please contact:

UNESCO

Iskra Panevska, Adviser for Communication and Information, UNESCO, email: i.panevska@unesco.org, Ph: 26713000

Rekha Beri, Documentalist and Public Information, UNESCO, email: r.beri@unesco.org, mob: 9810852548, Ph: 26713000 ext. 105

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