Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Director of the United Nations Agency for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Ricardo Mena has praised Indonesia for leading global efforts in reducing disaster risks.

"This (effort) is very important and this is which we think Indonesia is leading in global efforts to reduce disaster risks," Mena said in a special interview with ANTARA on Monday (May 23).

According to him, Indonesia has given a strong message about the importance of disaster risk reduction efforts by hosting the 2022 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR).

"We believe that Indonesia sends a very strong message through the involvement and implementation of the GPDRR in Bali. For that, we are very grateful to the Government of Indonesia," he said.

Mena also highlighted Indonesia's leadership in adopting long-term disaster risk reductions.

"I think what I want to highlight is that Indonesia is one of the few countries in the world that has adopted long-term plans to reduce disaster risks," he said.

According to Mena, overcoming disaster risk takes a long time. "You can't do it in two, three or five years. That's not possible. We very much welcome that Indonesia has plans to reduce disaster risks even beyond 2040," he added.

Mena also motivated the governments of other countries to follow Indonesia's steps in adopting long-term plans to reduce disaster risks.

"Otherwise (making long-term plans), it is very difficult to do (disaster risk reduction) in a short time to address the large number of risks that have accumulated during the development process in the last three decades," he said.

Indonesia is hosting a series of meetings of the 7th Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) in Bali on May 23-28, 2022.

The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) is an international forum to discuss the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction (Sendai Framework 2015-2030).

The framework that has been agreed by 187 countries aims to become a global reference for reducing various disaster risks around the world in the future.

Source: Antara

Reporting by Indonesia Window