Submitted by MONTSAME on

The AMCDRR is Asian Ministerial conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. This is a conference that is held every two years in the Asia Pacific region. It brings together ministers that are responsible for Disaster Risk Reduction but also members of civil society, the UN system, the private sector. It’s a whole of society approach that’s required to reduce disaster risks and losses and therefor this conference tries to be as inclusive as possible. It also includes multiple stakeholder groups representing women, the disabled and children and young people as well.
Mongolia is a country that has been confronting head-on its own disasters, it’s a country that faces on an annual basis extreme weather events known as the Dzud and this has a tremendous impact on the lives and livelihoods of the Mongolian people. It’s a form of drought that severely impacts the livestock here which is the main source of income
“I had 300 sheep and goats, 30 horses and 20 head of cattle. Most of them died from starvation and the rest were stolen”, explains Doripagma. “Coming to the city was difficult as everything was so costly. Our traditional life was good compared to now. We used to be independent and lived off produce from our animals like milk, cheese and meat. We also produced cashmere wool from our goats”.
Earlier action and really trying to maintain resilience at the household level in the early stages of an impending Dzud is a critical action that will be take here in the near future.
We have seen Mongolia really putting forwards tremendous efforts to embrace Disaster Risk Reduction and taking a leadership role in the region.
One thing is certain, there is a tremendous commitment in Asia Pacific p to achieving the sustainable development goals and I think a key message is that without investment in Disaster Risk Reduction we cannot achieve the sustainable development goals because disasters are chipping away at development gains and they risk pushing communities back into poverty unless these investments are made.

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