Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)

09 December 2009

Sir John, Secretary-General and Mr President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

The Central Emergency Response Fund is a living example of why global response works.  It is effective.  It makes a genuine difference to people’s lives.

But the truth is that the world has moved on and even in the four short years since the Fund was established.  Current trends show us that the future is likely to be an even more complex place with even more complex needs.

Natural disasters increased four-fold between 1987 and 2007; the numbers of people affected by disasters are predicted to rise from some 250 million a year at the moment to 375 million by 2015.

And more people are living in poorly planned urban slums in regions prone to natural disasters than ever before.

Unchecked, these trends will place an impossible burden on the world’s resources.  And it will inevitably be the poorest who bear the brunt of the impact.

Recently in Ethiopia, I saw with my own eyes the difference that humanitarian support makes.

Without CERF funding, some 5 million people affected by drought would have gone without food - 2.5 million children would have suffered malnutrition.

So this fund saves lives and today I am pleased to announce that over the next three years UK funding for CERF will be £120 million.

We’ve come a long way.  But vast needs, more complex challenges and increased threats like climate change, conflict and displacement, mean money alone is not the answer.

The real solution lies in more effective joint working.

Rapid response to disasters in the Asia-Pacific were only possible because the humanitarian community, both national and international, worked together in ways unimaginable even five years ago when the Asian Tsunami hit.

Today, we have an opportunity to take stock and build for the future by deepening and widening cooperation.

Let me suggest five priorities:

- first, I think we need a more inclusive, international vision for humanitarian action - one that the entire UN membership can support.  This will require collective political will and more money.  It will mean doing development differently through increased support to local capacity, greater focus on risk reduction, alongside traditional response and life-saving activity.  There are difficult issues to be tackled; threats to humanitarian workers must be addressed and international humanitarian law universally recognised and applied.  I believe the UN, and its Member States, should organise an international summit next year where we can agree a framework for collective action on the future of humanitarian support;

- second, we need strong leadership of humanitarian response.  UN leaders in country do fantastic jobs in very difficult environments.  We need their leadership if the international community is to respond successfully in many of the most difficult situations around the world.  We need the best people in these jobs and we need to empower and support them to do the best job possible.  As UN agencies, NGOs and Governments, we must contribute to a diverse and excellent pool of talent, offering our best people to be trained and ready to take up these leadership roles.  Next year, we in the UK will be ready to put at least £4 million into supporting UN leaders on the ground.  And we will continue to fund joint initiatives that empower leaders, UN leaders, to plan and prioritise effectively.  I hope Member States will join us in this work;

- third, we must enable countries to help their own people and increase support for disaster risk reduction.  In Mozambique, 12 million people live under threat from extreme weather conditions.  In 2000, hundreds of thousands were left homeless by floods and damage cost over $450 million.  In 2007, as a result of determined work by the Government and people of Mozambique, floods claimed 29 lives to compare to some 800 back in 2000.  And this time a far smaller scale international response was needed, in support of a well prepared and coordinated national response.  We should follow that example as we work together to improve our response to disasters, preparing more in advance and reacting less, equipping local people with the skills and tools to tackle catastrophes when they arise.  So Governments must also focus more on reducing risk.  We are working in the UK with Governments in developing countries to explore how disaster risk group strategies can be built into the development planning process.  In 2005, 168 Member States signed up to the Hyogo Framework for Action, promising to put more funding into this area.  It is time we realised that commitment;

- fourth, we need better coordination and stronger partnership.  Weaknesses in this area hindered the response to displacement in Pakistan earlier this year.  Money trickled rather than flowed and help was slow in reaching those in need.  That is clearly not good enough.  Coordinating response is core business, and in most emergencies, a full time job.  As Cluster Leaders, UN Agencies must look beyond mandates, develop innovative partnerships and dedicate resources to professional coordination.  In Sudan, the Common Humanitarian Fund has provided some $2.7 million to UN Agencies to strengthen their cluster lead roles.  I hope this will lead to early recruitment of high quality and dedicated staff, coupled with real improvements in coordination and better resource allocation next year.  We have also got to make sure that money reaches those in need more quickly.  A standard agreement will soon be in place that allows money to flow quickly from CERF to UN Agencies.  Now it is up to UN Agencies to follow this lead so that money flows to NGO partners with equal speed.  I know that work has begun on this – but we have got to see evidence of real improvement in the first half of 2010; and

- lastly and fifthly, we need to be more accountable and better at showing that what we do makes a difference.  In the midst of a global economic crisis, it is vital that we can demonstrate that what we do makes a difference.

So I welcome the good work done by Sir John Holmes and the CERF Secretariat earlier this year to improve reporting on the use and impact of CERF funds.  And I now look to the Secretary-General to consolidate the wealth of information that already exists, and to produce an annual report that sets out clearly and plainly how global funds have been spent, and what they have achieved.

I urge him to lay the first report before this Conference next year.

Secretary-General, Sir John, fellow Ministers and Delegates, CERF shows what can be achieved through joint working.

The Fifth Anniversary of the Tsunami on 26 December reminds us that disasters can overwhelm any country and test the capacity of the international response.

We can only successfully confront these threats together.  And I look forward to working with CERF and other partners in the year ahead.

Thank you.