Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance learnings from year 2
From Peru to Indonesia, climate vulnerable people have acted to cope with climate change and build community resilience to natural hazards, thanks to support from us, the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (The Alliance).
According to our latest report published to mark International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, #DRRDay , the Alliance reveals that, 24 months into a five-year global program that committed to eventually reach 2 million people, 170,000 have so far been reached in communities vulnerable to climate change.
When the COVID-19 crisis emerged, these groups were well placed to utilize their skills and to leverage relationships fostered to manage the impacts of the pandemic in their communities.
The Alliance has been successful in influencing donor and private sector funding commitments, too. “By July this year, the Alliance helped shape $243 million of commitments and spending on flood resilience and other disaster risk reduction activities. This is a fantastic start, however by 2024 we have ambitious plans to help secure $1billion worth of funding commitments for flood resilience,” says my colleague Ann Vaughan, advocacy lead at Mercy Corps for us.
Two years into the five-year disaster risk reduction program, I am happy to see we are making significant progress helping communities, however, there is much more work to be done. We are beginning to see evidence of improved disaster risk management in the communities and countries we work with, and increased stakeholder mobilisation on the need for flood resilience. But it will take time for us to see the results of the policies we’re helping to improve, whether or not flood resilience spending commitments are honored, especially amidst the need to finance the COVID19 recovery, and how improved investment impacts the lives of the vulnerable.
We’re committed to working alongside people whom are the most vulnerable to weather-related events like floods. We view this as a long-term partnership, bringing together our combined expertise in building resilience to natural hazards, influencing governments to invest in climate and disaster resilience, and harnessing the power of people in local communities whom are dedicated to reducing risk and supporting climate change adaptation. This is essential to help climate vulnerable communities thrive and prosper in a changing climate, post COVID19 world.
Read the full press release here.