Jack McConnell: ‘disaster response, resilience and recovery' should be included in UN development goals

On my second trip to Leyte in the Philippines in February, I was unsure what to expect. The island was the most affected by Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013 and on my first visit in February 2014, the population were still in shock. Beyond the main streets, debris still covered land and buildings. Huge shops thrown onto the beach at Tacloban were a reminder of the scale of the horror, and farmers were beginning to panic over the replacement of the 32 million coconut trees that were lost, and the need to feed their families and start to earn an income again.

I was back for a second time as a Volunteer with VSO Bahaginan – the Philippines wing of VSO – to campaign with Beyond 2015 and to support those locally, fighting for justice and to end extreme poverty.

In Tacloban, the main town, commerce has returned. There is a spring in the step of the people. Shops and schools are open again. The airport has been reroofed and is no longer a shell. Everywhere, I hear praise for the UK. Between government humanitarian aid and private donations, the UK was the single largest donor following Typhoon Haiyan - or Yolanda - as it is known locally. Our contribution was fast and targeted important priorities.

In Tolosa, Sante Fe and Dulag, local farmers were able to tell me that the new homes built since 2013 withstood the three smaller typhoons in 2014. Some crops planted last year survived those fresh onslaughts and rebuilding of local schools is now underway.

However, in each of these three areas – the scale and speed of replanting, the number of new homes and access to vital services – there are concerns. The capacity of national and local government is strained, and there is much still to be done.

For the longer term, the global community must take consistent action to slow down climate change and reduce the likelihood of extreme weather events. We must also invest in disaster risk reduction and mitigation.

In September 2015, the United Nations will agree new Sustainable Development Goals to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. They will aim to end extreme poverty by 2030 and therefore we must go further than the MDG’s set in 2000. The MDG’s address urgent deficiencies in basic provision and set targets for primary schooling, clean water, vaccinations and maternal health. In our world today – and the best example of this is the Philippines – if we are to invest in programmes that transform the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable, the SDG’s must prioritise climate change, conflict and inequality. They must support Disaster Risk Resilience and Mitigation.

Natural disasters like floods, typhoons and earthquakes, not only destroy development already underway, but they target the most vulnerable. The SDG’s must move beyond humanitarian aid in the event of natural disasters – admirable and important those efforts are. They must invest in ‘Build Back Better’- early warning systems and diversified and sustainable agriculture and infrastructure to provide the platform for sustained development in these disaster prone communities.

We must not forget Typhoon Haiyan, or the thousand who died. We must not just move on. There is a real opportunity this year to effect change over the next fifteen years. We need tough targets to tackle climate change agreed in December. We need a strong commitment to Disaster Risk Resilience in the SDG’s in September. Back in Tacloban and the other communities of Leyte and Samar, we must not leave before the job is done.

Scotland is represented at a very high level as part of the United Kingdom in the UN negotiations, but we can all have an impact on the direction and content of the SDG’s as the movement is as important as the meetings. Scotland's unique relationship with Malawi, through the Scotland Malawi Partnership, has shown it can develop successful and long lasting links with countries in the developing world. Malawi is currently suffering from terrible flooding, and inequality there has been increasing, so I hope the people of Scotland, schools, charities and the Scottish Parliament will use the experience of those relationships to push as hard as possible for the Sustainable Development Goals to have a focus on inequality, disaster risk resilience and climate change.

The global community is helping to build back better, so now is not the time to move on. It is the time to finish the job. The families who have suffered so much deserve nothing less. 

Lord McConnell was in the Philippines volunteering with international development charity VSO