 We're here at GET 2016 in Kuwait, it's the second global forum on emergency telecommunications and I'm very pleased to be joined by Adam Lukos, who is the director of UNISDR. Adam, thanks so much for being with us in the studio today. Thank you for having me. Now, basically here, there's a lot of talk about the role of ICTs in disaster risk reduction before and after disaster strikes. Perhaps we could talk a little bit about that. Sure, very good. Thanks again for having me. Welcome to ITU and the government of the state of Kuwait for including UNISDR in this conference. I'm quite impressed with the participants. They're in some ways a group of converted persons because they understand the importance of ICTs. The role for us, at least in the United Nations family, when we look at different players in the disaster response, disaster preparedness sector, we see science and technology broadly defined as important within that ICTs. So although there's a bit of disagreement on what's the best technology, how do we build a better mousetrap on the technological side? What's very clear is that coherence and communication, accuracy and information dissemination, early warning systems are absolutely essential in this sector. Now in March 2015 in Japan, a global framework was worked on for disaster risk reduction, the Sendai framework. How are ICTs reflected in that? The Sendai framework adopted in Sendai by the General Assembly then later on was the first in the 2015 development agenda. ICTs figure prominently in the Sendai framework, specifically noted along with science and technology broadly as part of the partners that are included. The Sendai framework, actually disaster risk reduction generally is one of those areas that people are, let's say, universally in support of. It's less political than some other issues in the United Nations family that we're all aware of. What was a bit contentious in the Sendai framework was not the use of technology, but maybe the sharing of certain kinds of information, intellectual property rights. How would technology be transferred? Would it be on a mutually agreed basis? And some of the talk in the conference has been about that. How do we have open source information? How do we make information technology available to those who are most in need, the most vulnerable communities? Some of them are in very remote areas and we heard this from delegates in the last session I was in on the leadership dialogue. So it's there. It's prominently displayed in the Sendai framework and now it's the responsibility of governments in their national plans and national strategies to include ICTs as part and parcel of disaster preparedness and response. What are the challenges and opportunities for ICTs in disaster risk reduction? I think about this a bit early, this issue of opportunities because this and challenges, come up in a few of the sessions. Maybe I'm a bit of an optimist and we're probably trained to be so in the UN. I've had a number of years in the field and all it takes is one positive experience with the local community of how people have sort of pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and solve the problem to see that there are great opportunities. The Sendai framework different from previous frameworks is that it broadens the scope of disasters. We look at manmade disasters. We look at slow onset disasters, technological disasters. So it's not simply waiting for the cyclone to hit or the earthquake to hit. But what are some of those other disasters? So in this broadening, while that's a greater challenge in that you're bringing different ministries and different partners into the discussion, but by broadening it you also see opportunities. There are opportunities for coherence, which wouldn't have existed if we silo the DRR agenda. And then because we're part of this 2015 discourse, all of the different elements, we're intimately linked with the sustainable development goals. There is no development without a disaster risk reduction strategy. An example, and I'm sure of where I read this, but recently, in Sierra Leone, hit by Ebola, the Ebola crisis, some 925, 930 million dollars were taken from, let's say, the development coffers and directed to Ebola. So this event happened. So any advances or any intended plans for education, health, infrastructure, any other area had to be diverted to the Ebola crisis. That's a significant development loss. This is an enormous hurdle that Sierra Leone and the donors, where all the money was coming from, other contributors, now have to surpass. Everything is delayed. And so these linkages with the sustainable development goals are intimate and pervasive throughout the Sendai framework. And finally, what do you hope will be some of the outcomes of this meeting? Sure. One thing that struck me here is that we have no shortage of intelligent people. There are brilliant technical experts in areas of communications technology, far beyond my capacity. But I have been on the front line of these disasters in response and working with governments on preparedness. And I guess the outcome I would like to see is that these government officials who are present go back to their countries and are advocates for disaster risk reduction across the agenda of the government that it not be a siloed issue. I was talking to one delegate on the shuttle bus from the hotel this morning. And he had said, well, you know, my ministry of disaster risk reduction isn't from a Caribbean island state. So hard hit by disasters on a frequent basis. He said, you know, my ministry, my directorate has been shuttled around from ministry to ministry. We used to be in the prime minister's office. That was great. But now we're in another one and then we're in another one. And I said, well, where should you be in your estimation to the prime minister's office? This has to be a top down government wide exercise. So if the delegates here can go home and take that message that they're not they're interested in telecommunications broadly, but what are the linkages to disaster risk reduction? How can they then mobilize other parts of their own governments? Then I think we're a step a step in the right direction. And close or cooperation between the governments and steps. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, there is the mother nature that knows no boundaries, right? So if a cyclone is coming through, it certainly doesn't stop at a border. So I have seen a lot of that. I've seen very, very good discussions around information sharing and regional groupings and technology. So I think that that's maybe less of an issue in this community. But again, generally, this has to be at the highest levels of government working to support. And it's actually quite fortuitous that we're in Kuwait. Kuwait is the largest contributed overseas development of any country per capita. So we're in a very giving country with ITU, the oldest United Nations agency having this meeting in the first meeting in 2016 of the post 2015 agenda. So I think that all these things are coming together in my mind is very positive. Brilliantly wrapped up. Adam Malikas, thank you very much. And you've been with us today. No, it's been a pleasure. And I wish you luck with the rest of the conference. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Cheers. Yeah, cheers. Okay.