- Pacific Possible Background Paper No.6
The objective of this briefis to set outlinkages between food safety and the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), to identify priority issues,and to suggest how investments in food safety can help attain SDGs.
This reference manual provides in-depth knowledge on the techniques, methodologies and best practices for using geospatial information in support of decision making for disaster risk management for specific hazards
Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to i...mprove the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop. Myanmar has made significant progress in its disaster management policies, plans, and procedures since 2008, when Cyclone Nargis impacted the country leaving devastation in its aftermath. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has modified the government structure and created new authorities and plans to improve the effectiveness of disaster management at all levels. While this progress is encouraging and shows the determination of the government to make necessary adjustments, the resources to implement the policy changes have been slower to develop.
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The Strategic Framework for Emergency Preparedness is a unifying framework which identifies the principles and elements of effective country health emergency preparedness. It adopts the major lessons of previous initiatives and lays out the planning and implementation process by which countries can ...determine their priorities and develop or strengthen their operational capacities. The framework capitalizes on the strengths of current initiatives and pushes for more integrated action at a time when there is both increased political will and increased funding available to support preparedness efforts.
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Recently, Sri Lanka has been impacted by multiple natural disasters. Sri Lanka experienced a landslide in October 2014, and flooding in December 2014.8 Sri Lanka withstood the worst drought conditions witnessed in four decades in 2016; the extreme drought conditions extended into 2017 and produced s...ubstantial economic and social effects. The drought was responsible for an increase in national poverty levels, due to reduced cultivation income, especially for rural farmers. ... In May 2017, Sri Lanka experienced continuous rains causing flash floods and extreme devastation. However, despite natural disasters and challenges posed by a complex political environment, Sri Lanka’s financial performance remained largely satisfactory in the first half of 2017.
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The purpose of the report is to present some first recommendation for the development of Myanmar ecological quality criteria using the system of the EU Water Framework Directive (EU WFD) as baseline, with main focus on the characterization and classification processes. As background for the recommen...dations we first give an overview of the main water use categories in Myanmar. We then provide preliminary suggestions for typology criteria and indices for assessing ecological status in lakes and rivers in Myanmar. The typology factors and physico-chemical parameters are based on common used factors in the EU countries. The biological elements include phytoplankton and aquatic macrophytes for lakes, and benthic invertebrates for rivers.
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Policy Guidance Brief 1
• Climate change has already challenged the agriculture sector in Myanmar by afecting rice yields and livestock production, while disasters such as foods and cyclones have caused massive destruction in rural areas.
• Without adaptation, the long-term consequenc...es of climate change will likely include reduced productivity and huge economic losses, food insecurity, poverty and migration.
• According to the Climate Change Action Plan for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock sector, by 2030 Myanmar should achieve climate-resilient productivity and promote climate-smart responses to support food security and livelihood strategies while also introducing resource-efficient and lowcarbon practices.
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The Myanmar National Framework seeks to achieve people-centered, inclusive, and sustainable socioeconomic development in the face of disasters triggered by natural hazards and climate change. The framework articulates a common understanding, proposes a coherent approach, and identifies potential opp...ortunities for strengthening the resilience of communities in Myanmar.
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Cambodia drafted and adopted the National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2014-2018 in 2014. This plan finalized the required policies and legal processes to strengthen DRM in Cambodia. It also focused on capacity building at national and sub-national levels and provided dedicated resources ...for strengthening the NCDM and the Sub-National Committees for Disaster Management. Cambodia’s legislature then passed the Law on Disaster Management in June 2015. This legal framework for disaster management assigns legally binding roles and responsibilities, establishes institutions, and assists with the allocation of resources and coordination. NCDM is Cambodia’s lead government agency for emergency preparedness and relief. The NCDM provides the overall leadership of the Plan of Action for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) coordination in Cambodia. Cambodia has adopted the Cambodia Red Cross (CRC) as the primary partner for relief operations.
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Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), also referred to as Laos, or Lao, is exposed to natural disasters such as flooding, typhoons, cyclones, drought, and earthquakes. The country is vulnerable to recurrent, sudden-onset and slow onset natural disasters with flooding, storms and typhoons hav...ing a large effect on the population. The country remains highly vulnerable to agricultural shocks and natural disasters.
Lao has established Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) practices as a result of the many natural disasters the country faces. CBDRR is implemented at the village level to enhance community preparedness and to decrease village vulnerabilities to disasters.
Lao established the National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC) as its national disaster management platform and the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to be responsible for DRM (Disaster Risk Management) and DRR activities in the country.
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Policy Guidance Brief 2
• The potential health risks from climate change include: increase of waterborne and vector-borne diseases, heat-related illnesses, injuries and deaths, food insecurity and increased malnutrition. The poor, women, children and the elderly, as well as communities living... in remote high-risk areas are most vulnerable.
• The expected results to achieve this outcome are: (i) climate risk management system is well-established, robust and nationally integrated to respond efectively to increased intensity and impact of risks and hazards on people’s health and wellbeing; (ii) improved social protection, gender consideration and risk finance capacity to prepare for and recover from potential loss and damage resulting from climate change; (iii) Myanmar’s health system is improved and can deal with climate-induced health hazards and support climate-vulnerable communities to respond effectively to disaster and health hazards from climate change.
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Lack of satisfactory progress in mainstreaming disaster risk reduction within development is attributed to various factors. One of the important factor that is often not much appreciated is the inadequate comprehension of mainstreaming and the absence of clear, cogent and practical guidelines, tools... and techniques for mainstreaming DRR within development. This Guidebook helps to tackle this challenge by providing strategic and practical guidelines on how to mainstream disaster risk reduction into their policies plans and programmes across key sectors. It discusses strategic approaches towards risk resilient development in the Asia-Pacific region and demonstrates how to operationalize them using examples from various countries in the region. These guidelines can be adopted by countries according to their specific contexts, resources and capacities.
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The Republic of the Union of Myanmar is at a historic moment, with a new civilian government assuming power in 2016. The country graduated to lower-middle-income status in 2015, and has made significant progress in reducing poverty, improving food security and addressing malnutrition.
The remai...ning challenges to food and nutrition security and achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 targets include continued population displacements resulting from conflict, vulnerability to extreme weather events, poverty, limited social protection coverage, high malnutrition and persistent gender inequalities.
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The ERP approach seeks to improve effectiveness by reducing both time and effort, enhancing predictability through establishing predefined roles, responsibilities and coordination mechanisms. The Emergency Response Preparedness Plan (ERPP) has four main components: i) Risk Assessment, ii) Minimum Pr...eparedness Actions, iii) Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), and iv) Contingency Plans for the initial emergency response. Besides these four elements, the preparedness package also includes the updated Multi-Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) methodology, the Scenario Plan for a cyclone in Ayeyawaddy as well as the key documents for cash transfer programming in new emergencies.
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