Economic losses to disasters in Asia and the Pacific could exceed $160 billion annually by 2030, the United Nations development arm in the region warned on Tuesday, urging greater innovation in disaster risk financing.

The need is all the more pressing given that only eight per cent of region’s losses are insured, said the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“The time for establishing solutions to these complex emerging challenges is now,” underlined Shamshad Akhtar, the Executive Secretary of ESCAP, speaking at an event on financing for disaster risk reduction in Asia-Pacific at the UN Headquarters, in New York.

The low insurance coverage has persisted in the region even though it has suffered nearly $1.3 trillion in losses over the last 50 years.

The result is that individuals, businesses and Governments are left to bear the staggering costs of natural calamities. And with extreme weather events increasing as the region’s cities become more crowded, the gap could widen.

“Business as usual is unsustainable […] policy makers and financial strategists in both the public and private sectors have to work together,” said the head of ESCAP.

The time for establishing solutions to these complex emerging challenges is now – ESCAP chief Shamshad Akhtar

In her remarks, Ms. Akhtar outlined the opportunities offered by recent innovations such as catastrophe risk modelling, parametric insurance, a mix of traditional and global financial reinsurance, and concessional insurance.

She also highlighted the role ESCAP – which spans a geographic region from Turkey in the west to the tiny Pacific island of Kiribati in the east, and from Russia in the north to New Zealand in the south – could play.

“The provision of a regional platform for building capacity as well as mutual trust among countries is the key to successful sovereign risk pooling [and] ESCAP, whose primary mandate is regional cooperation, is well suited for this role,” said Ms. Akhtar.

Speaking alongside Ms. Akhtar, Mami Mizutori, Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), highlighted the importance of both disaster risk financing and resources to reduce disaster risk to ensure resilient and sustainable development.

“At present, we need both […] Let’s face it: when natural hazards hit, without these mechanisms, we cannot cope with the aftermath,” she said.

Ms. Mizutori, who is also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, also highlighted the importance national strategies to strengthen resilience and mitigate natural hazard risks, a call made in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

“We want Syrians to know that they are not forgotten; that we are trying to find better ways to help them in this terrible situation,” said Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, at the opening of a two-day conference in Brussels, co-organized by the European Union, called Supporting the future of Syria and the region.

“Despite fighting, bombing and violence, we will not give up,” Mr. Lowcock said.

The fighting in Syria, which erupted in March 2011 and has now lasted longer than World War II, has left hundreds of thousands dead and more than 13 million in dire need of humanitarian assistance within the country. Another 5.6 million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries for refuge.

The first few months of 2018 saw over 700,000 people fleeing their homes – many more than once – as well as 72 reported attacks on medical facilities.

“As the number of people in urgent need of assistance continues to grow, the United Nations has exhausted its resources to respond,” Mr. Lowcock said.

“We call on donors to pledge funds to assist and protect Syrian families wherever they are,” said Mr. Lowcock, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

Development set back decades

The widespread destruction of livelihoods and infrastructure has pushed 70 per cent Syrians into extreme poverty. At the same time, neighbouring countries are reeling under the strain of the massive influx of refugees from Syria.

“Host countries have demonstrated outstanding generosity to Syrian refugees for many years despite the huge pressure on national services and infrastructure,” said Achim Steiner, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Host countries have demonstrated outstanding generosity to Syrian refugees for many years despite the huge pressure on national services and infrastructure – UNDP chief Achim Steiner

“The international community must enhance their support for longer term development efforts to these countries on the front line who have been providing a global public good,” he said.  

Conference programme

The two-day conference in Brussels is expected to draw ministerial-level participation from over 85 countries.

On the first day, more than 200 non-governmental organizations from Syria and the region discussed ways to improve services with ministers and top UN and EU officials. Separately, Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria and Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, met with Syrian civil society leaders.

Speaking to the press following the meeting, they called on all parties to the negotiating table.

“They [the civil society] were sitting around the table together today, many of them did not agree with each other, in fact we noticed it, but they were able to sit around the table, that’s exactly what we want at the political level,” said Mr. de Mistura.

Results from the first day of discussions will feed into the plenary sessions on Wednesday, which will cover all key aspects of the conflict, including the political process. Also on day 2, the total amount of aid pledges received will be announced. The co-chairs plan to release a declaration at the closing of the meeting.

Kicking off World Immunization Week, the United Nations today said that while vaccines are protecting more children than ever, more countries need to make immunization a priority, because more than one million children still die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases.

“Last year, it is estimated that vaccines saved the lives of as many as three million children,” said Robin Nandy, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Immunization.

That’s three million future doctors, teachers, artists, community leaders, mothers and fathers alive today, “thanks to millions of frontline health workers who walk for hundreds of miles to remote locations, through jungles and across seas to reach every child,” he added.

But despite this solid progress, UNICEF points out that in 2016, approximately one-fourth of deaths among children under five were from pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles, and could have been mostly prevented by vaccines.

Also troubling is that more than19 million children round the world miss routine vaccinations, including 13 million who have never been inoculated.

Low immunization coverage compromises health gains throughout communities at risk, for mothers, children and the poorest – all of whom need it most.

Two-thirds of unvaccinated children live in fragile or conflict-affected countries, including Syria, which saw the sharpest decline in inoculated children between 2010 and 2016. 

According to UNICEF, in 2016 vaccine-preventable diseases were responsible for about a quarter of an estimated 1.4 million deaths among those under age five – with Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accounting for half of the world’s unimmunized children. 

A brighter future

These vaccine-preventable diseases do not need to be deadly killers, and numerous countries have seen a significant increase in the number of children vaccinated since 2010. 

Sudan, Philippines, Mexico and Vietnam were among those driving most of this decade’s immunization coverage gains. Moreover, the number of unvaccinated children in India dropped from 5.3 million in 2010 to 2.9 million in 2016.

The top 10 countries where vaccination coverage has increased between 2010 and 2016 are Palau, Malta, DRC, Comoros, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Timor-Leste, Barbados, Costa Rica and India.

Additionally, thanks to vaccines, maternal and neonatal tetanus have been eliminated in all but 15 countries – with Ethiopia, Haiti and Philippines having eradicated the disease just last year. 

“We continue to work with governments on the ground, including in places affected by conflict, in support of these unsung heroes who take on this extremely dangerous work to save lives,” Dr. Nandy said.

The UN World Health Organization meanwhile pointed out that vaccines protect people from more than deadly diseases, saying: “If we increase vaccine coverage in low- and middle-income countries by 2030, we could prevent 24 million people from falling into poverty due to health expenses.”

World Immunization Week, which runs from 24-30 April, shines a spotlight on global public health to increase rates of immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases around the world.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed his concern about the casualties in recent protests in Nicaragua, and called for restraint on all sides.

“He also calls on the Government of Nicaragua to ensure the protection of human rights of all citizens, particularly the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression,” said Mr. Guterres’ Spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, in a statement issued late Monday.

According to media reports, street demonstrations were triggered by planned changes to Nicaragua’s social security system, and stand-offs between the security forces and protesters resulted in deaths and injuries. 

“The Secretary-General supports the call for dialogue as an instrument to address the country’s current challenges,” the Spokesman said.

Calling for more diplomacy, dialogue and mediation to head off conflicts before they break out, United Nations officials urged a gathering of world leaders on Tuesday to help strengthen a new approach to sustaining peace, which aims to put prevention at the heart of the UN’s work.

“The first line of the United Nations Charter commits us to saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák said in his opening remarks to the High-Level Meeting on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace, which runs through tomorrow at UN Headquarters in New York.

“In a way, we have met this commitment. There has not, since, been another world war. But, in many other ways, we have not,” he said, noting that a new approach is needed to save people in places of unending conflict, including Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Mr. Lajčák said that in 2016, the UN decided to take a new approach: the General Assembly, along with the Security Council, adopted what are now known as the ‘sustaining peace resolutions,’ which renew the world body’s commitment to conflict prevention as embodied in the UN Charter.

Two years on, there are challenges in making this approach a reality, he said, calling for greater international attention to the need for scaled-up efforts to prevent conflict, achieve coherence within the UN system, and expand partnerships, financing, and inclusion.

Echoing the Assembly President’s view, Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the need to strengthen partnerships around all efforts, and at every stage, from conflict prevention and resolution to peacekeeping, peacebuilding and long-term development.

Key partners include Governments, the UN, other international, regional and sub-regional organizations, international financial institutions, the private sector, and civil society, including women’s and youth groups, he added.

“Sustaining peace will only be realized through committed, inclusive national ownership that considers the needs of the most marginalized, including women, young people, minorities and people with disabilities,” he said.

The UN chief said that more countries are experiencing violent conflict than at any time in nearly three decades, and that record numbers of people are on the move, displaced by violence, war and persecution.

“Inequalities are increasing; whole regions, countries and communities can find themselves isolated from progress and left behind by growth. These are all indications that we need greater unity and courage – to ease the fears of the people we serve; to set the world on track to a better future; and to lay the foundations of sustainable peace and development,” Mr. Guterres stressed.

Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, called on Member States to increase financing for the peacebuilding work led by youth and see young people as partners in the sustaining peace agenda.

Speakers in the opening session included Michelle Yeoh, an actress and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador, and Ishmael Beah, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Advocate for Children Affected by War.