The permanent secretary, Office of the Vice President has called on stakeholders to integrate and mainstream Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in their socio-economic development planning for sustainable development.

Lamin Nyabally made this call on Wednesday at the NaNA hall, while opening a day's consultation meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation for sustainable development in support of PAGE and for the establishment of the African Risk Capacity Agency.

Organised by the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) in collaboration with NATCOM, and funded by UNESCO under its Capacity Building and awareness Creation on DRR and CCA project, the synergy was meant to sensitise participants on modalities and the need to mainstream and integrate DRR and CCA in institutional planning.

PS Nyabally urged for concerted efforts and collaboration in minimising the impact of disasters by preparing adequately for timely and effective response. Government, he assured, recognises that something has to be done to address disaster, indicating that the political will is there, which he noted resulted to the establishment of the necessary institutional framework and government's continuous pumping of huge amounts of money to curb the menace.

The permanent secretary went on to indicate the need to build resilience as enshrined in the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), while reiterating the urgency for all sectors to integrate and mainstream DRR and CCA in their planning.

He finally thanked UNESCO for funding the meeting, and urged the participants to make best use of the convergence.

Speaking earlier, Yahya Matarr Jobe of UNESCO informed that the meeting has preceded series of meetings to be organised in the near future. He described disaster as the biggest obstacle to socio-economic development hence the need for the sensitisation.

He urged participants to take the meeting seriously and disseminate the knowledge gained.

Poulo O.N Joof, acting executive director of National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), described disaster as a cause for concern; that it poses challenges to the developing countries. Therefore, he noted, there is the need to strengthen the existing political will and commitment towards averting disaster.

Pa Ousman Jarju, director of the Department of Water Resources also expressed similar sentiments.