Loren Shares Her Journey as United Nations Envoy; Launches Book on Redefining Development

SENATOR LOREN LEGARDA, APPOINTED REGIONAL CHAMPION FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC BY THE UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY ON DISASTER REDUCTION, IS LAUNCHING A UNITED NATIONS BOOK ENTITLED REDEFINING DEVELOPMENT ON OCTOBER 11, 2010, MONDAY AT THE MAKATI SHANGRI-LA HOTEL.
In this book, Senator Legarda recounts her journey on the international level as she leads the campaign for decisive action towards reducing our vulnerability to disasters and building resilience to the ill effects of climate change.
“It’s time to propel to international focus, especially in this part of the world, the pressing challenge of reducing disaster risks as our first line of defense against climate change and as our vehicle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” Legarda stressed.
Senator Legarda recalls the lessons of Ondoy and Pepeng, which killed nearly a thousand Filipinos, “In many parts of the world, climate change is a real-life and real-time crisis. In our country, it is unfortunate that it had to take Ondoy and Pepeng to realize that we are not prepared even for the disasters of today, let alone for the worst effects of climate change tomorrow.”
“Development must therefore be pursued with responsibility, accountability, and proficiency for good governance. Development should reduce rather than produce risks to our society and our economy,” Legarda asserted.
According to Senator Legarda, the book challenges leaders and decision-makers, from regional to local levels, to redefine development – the kind of development that transcends traditional economic yardsticks such as GDP; the kind that values the social, cultural and natural capital of countries; and the kind founded on sustainability and socio-economic progress, ecosystems protection, cultural resilience and good governance.
Senator Legarda’s journey is covered in seven chapters and 190 pages — from the crafting and declaration of the “Manila Call for Action for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation” in 2008, to her appointment as Champion, through advocacy missions to Bhutan and Maldives, to her humanitarian work for typhoon victims and the Senate inquiries on tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng, to the signing of the Climate Change Act of 2009 in Malacañan Palace, to her high-level speaking engagements in Beijing, the United Nations in New York, Geneva, Paris and Copenhagen.
Redefining Development is written by Maria Rosa Nieva Carrion under Seagull Philippines, Inc. with the support of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.