Lesotho youth join others on DRR in Geneva

Two girls from Lesotho travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to address world leaders gathered at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. The youth led an interactive panel discussion, titled The Resilient Future We Want, on utilizing the energy and knowledge of young people to prepare communities to deal with natural disasters.

During the panel 15-year-old Motselisi and 16-year-old Tlhohonolofatso called on leaders to place the voices of children and youth at the forefront of global discussions on disaster risk reduction. The two youth, whose visit has been facilitated by World Vision,l also discuss progress on the Children’s Charter for Disaster Risk Reduction, which was launched at the 2011 Global Platform.

“The message I bring to world decision makers is for children and youth to be given the opportunity to share our views on child protection and disaster management,” says Tlhohonolofatso.

“In Lesotho we have herdboys who stay up in the mountains in cattle posts. They often lose their lives during disasters and heavy snowfall due to their lack of access to warning information,” says Motselisi. “Rescue does not always come quickly for children, so they die unnecessarily.”

Motselisi and Tlhohonolofatso were joined at the panel by youth from England, Cambodia, Japan, Norway and Vietnam.

Children make up more than half the population in countries predicted to be most affected by climate change and are facing increasing impacts from tumultuous events. It is estimated that as many as 175 million children a year will soon be affected by disasters.

Disasters are increasing in frequency. Climate change is making communities and families around the world more vulnerable to disasters, particularly women and children who are 14 times more likely to die in a disaster than men. The number of children affected by disasters in the 1990s was an estimated 66.5 million per year, but over the next decade that number is expected to climb to 175 million.

The Children’s Charter aims to raise awareness of the need to put children at the heart of efforts to prepare for disasters before they strike, and calls for stronger commitment from governments, donors and agencies to take appropriate steps to protect children and utilise their energy and knowledge to engage in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

The Global Platform for Disaster Reduction was established in 2007 as a biennial forum for information exchange, discussion of latest development and knowledge and partnership building across sectors, with the goal to improve implementation of disaster risk reduction through better communication and coordination amongst stakeholders. The Global Platform is organized by UNISDR, the UN's office for disaster risk reduction and secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction is now the world's foremost gathering of stakeholders committed to reducing disaster risk and building the resilience of communities and nations.