DPU Working Paper - No. 125

Author: Angelique Habils

Publication Date: 2003

In the preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002 UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan declared on the subject of disaster reduction and sustainable development that: “More effective prevention strategies would save not only tens of billions of dollars, but save tens of thousands of lives. Funds currently spent on intervention and relief could be devoted to enhancing equitable and sustainable development instead, which would further reduce the risk for war and disaster. Building a culture of prevention is not easy. While the costs of prevention have to be paid in the present, its benefits lie in a distant future. Moreover, the benefits are not tangible; they are the disaster that did not happen” (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction – ISDR, 2002, p.1).

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