Press Release
April 20, 2009

Loren calls for "new breed of global leaders"

Beijing, China - Senator Loren Legarda called for "a new breed of global leaders in the 21st century who will decisively champion both the reduction of disaster risks and the reduction of gender inequality". The Chairman of the Agriculture, Health and Climate Change Committees of the Philippine Senate, Legarda challenged world leaders when she delivered the keynote address of the "International Conference on Gender and Disaster Risk Reduction" in Beijing, China this morning of April 20 at the convention hall of the Jianguo Garden Hotel.

At the start of her well-applauded speech, Senator Loren Legarda called upon the political leaders, legislators, academe scholars and diplomats from 50 countries to remember the recent earthquake victims in Italy. She cited the Italian nation as they go through "the mournful ritual of burying the dead and begins the onerous task of rebuilding lives and homes destroyed by its worst earthquake in decades. On this tragedy, I convey my deepest sympathy to the government and people of Italy, especially to the grieving and displaced families."

The international conference in Beijing runs from April 20 to 22, and organized by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the All-China Women's Federation, the UN System in China and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of China.

Senator Loren Legarda is an international advocate of disaster risk reduction, which is the new global trend for minimizing multi-billion dollar socio-economic losses and deaths caused by increasing and intensifying typhoons, droughts, floods and other disasters triggered mainly by the grim climate change crisis. The Philippines and China are among the world's most disaster-prone countries, with China marking its first anniversary of the great Wenchuan earthquake in May this year.

By citing the Italy and China eartquake disasters in her speech, Senator Loren Legarda highlighted the prevailing disaster vulnerabilities of all societies in the East and West, whether developing or developed nations. She stressed that "these grim and tragic scenarios are preventable, that societies are not helpless victims if we act decisively to reduce the risks and plan our developments wisely."

Senator Legarda is also the UNISDR Regional Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adapation for Asia-Pacific. In June this year, she is invited to address the opening of the Second Session of the United Nations' Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva, Switzerland.

Senator Legarda told the international media in Beijing: "Climate change is the defining global issue of our times, and reducing disaster risks has become a moral responsibility not only of political leaders but of all sectors of society. We need multi-stakeholder and multinational partnerships and cooperation to overcome this daunting challenge and to save the earth for future generations. We in the Philippines are doing our share, such as the creation of the proposed National Climate Change Commission."

Last year in October, she and the UNISDR convened a meeting of world parliamentarians on advancing disaster risk reduction as a tool for climate change adaptation. The outcome of that meeting---a statement of consensus called the "Manila Call for Action"---urged parliamentarians to work towards making the Hyogo Framework for Action a legally-binding as well as establishing regional hubs of parliamentarians to advance a legislative agenda for disaster risk reduction.

Ms. Margareta Walstrom, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, cited Senator Loren Legarda two times in her own speech calling for better multi-lateral and concerted global action on these issues.

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