CARRA – Managing Compound Risks in Central Asia: A Bird’s Eye View Presentation at the third inter-agency conference on “Improving Regional Coordination in Managing Compound Risks in Central Asia” Almaty, April 2011 Johannes F. Linn

Central Asia risks – what risks for whom? For whom? Risks for people The poor are especially vulnerable But all people confront key risks and vulnerabilities Minimizing risks and vulnerabilities for all people is a shared goal for LICs (Haiti), MICs (Chile) and HICs (Japan) What risks: Earthquakes Other natural disasters (droughts, floods, etc.) Water and energy shortages and price shocks Food price increases Economic shocks 2

Central Asia regional risk management – why regional? Local and national-level action is the basic building block of risk management, but regional dimension matters Regional phenomena – seismic risks, meteorological conditions, climate change, global food and energy prices, economic shocks Cross-border impacts – earthquakes, floods, water and energy management, environmental events, displaced people Regional crisis preparedness and response may be essential Much is national and country specific, but Regional, cross-border preparedness and response may be needed (e.g., major earthquake, floods, energy or water shortages) Shared learning, training and capacity building 3

CARRA issues Principal themes Disaster risk reduction (DRR) Water and energy security Food security Social Protection Cross-cutting focus issues Risk monitoring, early warning and research Disaster preparedness and and response Humanitarian-development linkages Regional cooperation and capacity building 4

CARRA focus 1: Risk monitoring, early warning and research Need to monitor Seismic risk and vulnerabilities Hydro-meteorological and hydrological conditions Household water, energy and food indicators (prices, access, etc.) High vulnerability populations (monitoring and research) High-frequency v. intermittent v. baseline CARRA focus: Share information about which agency does what Identify gaps in information and capacity Cooperate in research on high vulnerability groups (esp. poverty impact analysis) Exchange lessons, best practice, etc. 5

CARRA focus 2: Disaster preparedness and response Need to prepare for and respond to Sudden onset crisis: earthquakes, floods, conflict Slow onset crisis: drought, food insecurity, economic crisis Climate change Local v. national v. regional scale CARRA focus: Share information about which agency does what Identify gaps in information, preparedness and response capacity Exchange lessons and best practices in terms of preparedness and response activities (incl. social protection) Bring to bear global experience/instruments 6

CARRA focus 3: Humanitarian- development linkages Need to build three links: Incorporate development considerations into crisis response Focus on transition from crisis response to development assistance (“early recovery”) Incorporate risk management into national/regional development planning CARRA focus: Share information on which agency does what Exchange lessons and best practice on how to scale up from successful local to national to regional interventions Bring to bear global experience/instruments 7

CARRA focus 4: Regional awareness, cooperation and capacity building Need to create greater awareness within and outside the region of Central Asia’s risks and vulnerabilities commitment to preparedness and response readiness to cooperate regionally capacity for regional preparedness and response CARRA focus: Share information on which agency does what Explore what regional organization is best able to take up risk monitoring, preparedness and response agenda Engage regional stakeholders (esp. at high political level) Disseminate information on Central Asia globally 8

In conclusion An important, big, complex, urgent agenda The CARRA process adds value For the future: Keep it focused, realistic, simple, scale up Focus on people Limit themes Keep expectations realistic Keep follow-up mechanisms simple Build on success, scale up what works nationally and regionally And keep committed to information sharing, coordination, partnership and engagement with country stakeholders 9

Thank you! Спасибо! 10