WE, the Ministers for Disaster Management of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of South Africa, met in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India on 22nd and 23rd August 2016 at the 2nd Meeting of the BRICS Ministers for Disaster Management;
RECALLING, the Ufa Declaration signed at the 7th BRICS Summit on 9th July 2015, which identifies the need to promote cooperation in preventing and developing responses to emergency situations (Art.35), acknowledging the fruitful discussions on natural disasters within the context of BRICS cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation (Art.35) & reiterating BRICS commitment to mitigate the negative impact of climate change (Art.53);
RECALLING, our commitments towards implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and our shared vision to play proactive and responsible role both at the regional and global levels with respect to disaster risk management;
RECOGNISING, with concern the growing level of disaster losses in our nations as well as increasing exposure of our people, economies, infrastructure and other social & cultural assets to various natural hazards;
REALISING, the urgent need to enhance awareness among all BRICS sector institutions and stakeholders to be able to address the interlocking issues of disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and sustainable development to effectively reduce adverse impacts of natural and human-induced disasters;
REAFFIRMING, the commitments of St. Petersburg Declaration of 20th April 2016 and agreed joint action plan for developing cooperation in the field of emergency management and working towards improving tools for monitoring and forecasting of emergencies, risk assessment and mechanisms of interaction in the provision of assistance in case of emergencies;
DO HEREBY:
1. Commit to continue to work towards a more risk resilient future by reducing existing disaster and climate related risks through integration of disaster risk management measures into sustainable development.
2. Promote cooperation in developing and disseminating innovative disaster risk management (DRM) solutions/practices in respect of key sectors of development;
3. Promote exchange of information on best practices relating to DRM to assist nations to continue to develop effective and appropriate responses to disaster risk reduction challenges;
4. Promote investments in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation through cohesive and integrated structural and non-structural mitigation measures including risk financing and risk transfer, in both public and private sectors;
5. Strengthen mechanisms/ initiatives on forecasting and early warning for managing the effects of extreme weather events;
6. Proactively analyze future disaster threats emanating from climate change, continue sharing and disseminating climate risk information to support ongoing and future efforts to manage disaster risks related to climate change in all development sectors;
7. Strengthen the capacities of national, regional and local institutions to monitor and reduce risk as well as enhance adaptive capacities of stakeholders through the promotion of education on DRM; and
8. To take necessary measures to implement joint action plan agreed in the 1st Meeting of the BRICS Ministers for Disaster Management at St. Petersburg in April 2016.
For implementing the above:
WE AGREE to Set up a Joint Task Force on Disaster Risk Management for regular dialogue, exchange, mutual support and collaboration among BRICS Countries. The Joint Task Force shall consist of one representative from each BRICS country and will be chaired by rotation by the representative of the country holding chairmanship of BRICS during that year. The Joint Task Force shall meet on the sidelines of the meeting of the BRICS Ministers for disaster management and may also hold additional meetings as necessary, including through video conferencing. As a follow on to St. Petersburg meeting, the Udaipur meeting agreed on a road map for implementation of the Joint Action Plan.
Adopted in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India on the Twenty Third Day of August in the Year Two Thousand and Sixteen.
23RD AUGUST 2016, UDAIPUR, RAJASTHAN, INDIA
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