UN Urges Asia-Pacific Governments to Invest More in Disaster Mitigation and Prevention [Video]

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore is asking governments in the Asia-Pacific region to invest more to prevent and mitigate damage from increasingly intense storms, reported The Associated Press.

In a speech given to kick off the 2024 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines, Kishore — head of the UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction — issued a warning.

“Disasters are now affecting record numbers of people and threatening their lives and livelihoods,” Kishore said in an address to hundreds of delegates in Manila, as The Associated Press reported. “Left unchecked, these disaster risks threaten to derail the development aspirations of the Asia Pacific region and push back progress that has taken decades to achieve.”

Climate change-fueled disasters are impacting an increasing number of people and could derail the region’s economic progress.

“We must significantly increase our investments and develop financing mechanisms in disaster risk reduction,” said President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, …