Supertyphoon Yolanda (Haiyan), the strongest storm to hit land in recorded history, was truly a game changer.
The powerful storm reinforces the urgency of reducing the vulnerability of communities and reinforcing resilience.
But this is easier said than done. There are factors that aggravate the impact of disaster – poverty, bad governance and environmental degradation.
The bull should be grabbed by the horns.
Over the last 20 years, so many interventions were ‘invented’ to address this long list.
As if awakened to the rude reality that the dominant development paradigm is killing the planet, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) prescribed “sustainable development” as the way forward.
The UNCED defines sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs.
The Philippine Agenda 21 made this the framework for development plans, bringing environment stewardship to the fore.
Then came the anti-poverty campaign.
We had a social reform agenda which tried to provide the basic needs of the poorest households.
This was further reinforced by the Millennium Development Goals with anti-poverty measures a top priority.
Fast forward to the last five years. Many milestones address poverty, governance issues and environmental degradation wherein the lifeblood is finance.
Adding to the demand for appropriate funding is disaster risk reduction management and climate change.
We have come to an era wherein the budget should not only be focused on anti-poverty, promoting good governance and environment protection.
It must also be for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
With more Yolandas to come, the government and the international community must prepare to fund the building of resilience communities.
To have a bigger pie to storm-proof, drought- proof, and flood-proof our communities, the leak in public finance that is due to corruption should be plugged.
What’s the new game then?
Enough talk.
Enough of clichés about fighting poverty, corruption and environmental degradation.
Government, business and the citizenry should get their act together to make a real difference in communities, especially those still mired in poverty and exposed to the full impact of natural disasters.
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