HUMANITARIAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANCE EXPERTS TO MEET IN BRUSSELS TO REVIEW PROCEDURES TO DEAL WITH ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES

Press Release
IHA/722

HUMANITARIAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANCE EXPERTS TO MEET IN BRUSSELS TO REVIEW PROCEDURES TO DEAL WITH ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCIES

NEW YORK, 17 November (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- Experts from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will review their current practices and methodologies with regard to environmental emergencies on 20-21 November in Brussels.

It will be the fourth meeting of the ad hoc international Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies. Leading emergency professionals from some 30 developed and developing nations will explore options and make recommendations on how the United Nations system should further improve its response to natural and environmental disasters. The meeting is organized with the support of the European Union.

The objective of the consultations is to achieve sound cooperation among experts worldwide and to improve the emergency response capacity of the organizations dealing with the delivery of assistance to affected countries.

OCHA has the principal mandate to mobilize and coordinate international assistance to countries suffering from various disasters, while UNEP has expertise, and a special role to play, in the environmental aspects of reoccurring disasters.

“Practically all emergencies have an important environmental component, which is often neglected. We must reinforce the centrality of environmental concerns in emergency prevention, response and mitigation,” says the Executive Director of UNEP, Klaus Toepfer.

OCHA and UNEP have decided to reinforce their mutual capacity to react to different types of disasters. A Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit has been established to ensure that requesting countries receive appropriate assistance without delay.

“We in the United Nations do not waste time on trying to understand who should take action in case of emergency, whether it is a natural disaster or an industrial accident. We just do it together,” says the acting United Nations Emergency Coordinator Carolyn McAskie.

Human beings and the environment are heavily affected by many different disasters, such as floods, chemical spills, earthquakes, mud slides, forest fires, technological accidents and others. The only difference is that the impact of those disasters is not always visible.

* *** *